I couldn’t Carignan less

[David M. Bueker]

Had a bottle of varietal Carignan tonight from a favorite producer. It wasn’t bad. I just couldn’t find anything that made me want to go back to it. Thinking about it, I haven’t had a bottle of Carignan that “grabbed” me in ages. I have no issue with it as a blending grape in Rhône/Rhône-styled wines or as a component in Zinfandel blends, but it just doesn’t work for me as a stand-alone grape.

What am I missing? Carignan seems to be on the upswing at least in California.

Had a bottle of varietal Carignan tonight from a favorite producer. It wasn’t bad. I just couldn’t find anything that made me want to go back to it. Thinking about it, I haven’t had a bottle of Carignan that “grabbed” me in ages. I have no issue with it as a blending grape in Rhône/Rhône-styled wines or as a component in Zinfandel blends, but it just doesn’t work for me as a stand-alone grape.

What am I missing? Carignan seems to be on the upswing at least in California.

It may be that it does better in hotter climates so is being planted in response to climate change. Just a thought...

Wines which are 100% Carignan are quite rare in Europe. Even the well known and excellent Carignano del Sulcis from Sardinia has a minimum Carignan content of 85% with other varieties allowed in a blend. I believe the the only 100% Carignan wine which I have had since I have been using CT is Domaine d'Aupilhac's Cuvée Carignan 2013 from the Montpeyroux area of Languedoc. I thought this an excellent and complex wine and would certainly buy it again if I were to see it in a store. It is not entitled to the Montpeyroux appellation because of its mono-varietal content, only to Vin de France! I have never had a disappointing wine from Aupilhac, which IMO is one of the best estates in Languedoc.

Yup, David... pretty much agree w/ you. I, too, rarely find a Carignane that excites me. Even from our favorite producers. They tend to be rather earthy/rustic/coarse/grapey in character and not much in high-toned character like Zin. I occasionally find one w/ some dusty/old-vine character that are interesting, but that's about it. Hard to make a silk-purse out of a sow's ear... or Carignane.
Interesting that I don't find that same character in AlicanteBouschet.
Tom

My local local non serious group once did a Carignan tasting, rough night (not as bad as "Spain south of Madrid).
There was a good Minervois from 100 year old vines, and a decent CA from Maitre de Chai. But good not great., But I have seldom given so many Cs. To be fair, these are non-geeks searching out hard to find category.
I used to buy the Ch. d'Oupia Les Heretiques where I think Carignan is the base grape, but not in years. At least used to be a good value, but think I recently had the Ch d'Oupia Minervois and global warming has caught up with it.

[Jenise]

So I checked my sparse CT entries on this grape. A '13 Spanish old vine priorat called Hammeken was terrific in 2025. A '16 Neyers Evangelho was also great a few years prior, though indistinguishable to my palate from grenache (which I love, many don't). And one from Chile along the way also made a case for this as a stand-alone grape. Among those notes, however, was a rather amusing one about a Wisconsin carignan that I drug home from a weekender to Milwaukee. It was thin, screechy and terrible, purchased from a small grocer who had a surprising number from different producers which would seem to indicate local popularity, though the bottle I bought offered no qualitative justification.

Was yours an Extradimensional? I have one of theirs in my cellar. Also Evangelho, which you'd know.

[David M. Bueker]

This one was in fact Extradimensional, but I feel the same way about other producer’s Carignan. Bedrock did an Evangelho Carignan, and I just couldn’t love it.