[4][5] Now rarely found in France, the world's largest area planted with this variety is in Chile, with more than 8,800 hectares (2009) cultivated in the Central Valley.

[8] This ancient variety originated in Iberia (modern-day Spain and Portugal), according to Pliny the Elder; indeed, it is currently a popular blending variety with Sangiovese in Tuscany called "Predicato di Biturica"[9] The Carménère grape has known origins in the Médoc region of Bordeaux, France[10] and was also widely planted in the Graves until the vines were struck with oidium.

Yields were lower than other varieties and the crops were rarely healthy; consequently wine growers chose more versatile and less coulure-susceptible grapes when replanting the vines and Carménère planting was progressively abandoned.

[13] Thanks to central Chile's minimal rainfall during the growing season and the protection of the country's natural boundaries, growers produced healthier crops of Carménère, and there was no spread of phylloxera.

[1] In 1994, Carménère was re-discovered as a distinct varietal in Chile by French ampelographist Jean Boursiquot,[1] a researcher at Montpellier's school of Oenology.

[17] A similar situation occurred in Italy when, in 1990, the Ca' del Bosco Winery acquired what they thought was Cabernet Franc vines from a French nursery.

In 2007 the grape was authorised to be used in Italian DOC wines from Veneto (Arcole, Bagnoli di Sopra, Cori Benedettine del Padovano, Garda, Merlara, Monti Lessini, Riviera del Brenta and Vicenza), Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Collio, or Collio Goriziano) and Sardinia (Alghero).

[20] In modern-day France only a few hundred acres of Carménère officially exist, although there are rumors of renewed interest among growers in Bordeaux.

[21] In the 1980s, Karen Mulander-Magoon, the co-proprietor of Guenoc and Langtry Estates Winery, in California's Lake County, brought the grape to the vineyard.

This was a joint effort with Louis Pierre Pradier, "a French research scientist and viticulturalist whose work involved preserving Carménère from extinction in France".

In Australia, three cuttings of Carménère were imported from Chile by renowned viticultural expert Dr Richard Smart in the late 1990s.

The first vines from the nursery were planted in 2002 by Amietta Vineyard and Winery in the Moorabool Valley (Geelong, Victoria) who use Carménère in their Angels' Share blend.

Lozärn Wines,[23] situated on Doornbosch farm in the Robertson region of the Western Cape, is the champion of the Carménère grape variety in South Africa.

During harvest time and the winter period the vine fares poorly if it is introduced to high levels of rain or irrigation water.

Genetic research has shown that Carménère may be distantly related to Merlot and the similarities in appearance have linked the two vines for centuries.