For more than a century, Chile grew Carménère and called it Merlot.

The confusion was understandable. Carménère arrived from Bordeaux among imported vines in the 19th century, before phylloxera devastated European vineyards.

In Chile, it became mixed up with Merlot. Growers knew some of their “Merlot” behaved rather differently and even called it Merlot Chileno.

Then, in 1994, French ampelographer Jean-Michel Boursiquot examined the vines at Viña Carmen.

Not Merlot.

Carménère.

A Bordeaux grape that had become extremely rare in its homeland had been quietly surviving on the other side of the world.

The art world has a word for this sort of thing: reattribution.

Same object.

Different label.

Rather different value.

Chile had not discovered a new grape. It had discovered what it had been growing all along.