Cabernet Franc is a grape beloved by wino's like us and perhaps misunderstood by more casual wine drinkers. If you're interested in discovering the charms of this grape, then it's worth looking towards Argentina. It seems to do so well in Mendoza, ripening beautifully and harnessing those classic characteristics – ripe red fruits, bell peppers, maybe a touch of graphite, and silky tannins. It is also much more reliable from vintage to vintage than its counterparts in the Loire, and thus plantings are increasing rapidly. This gorgeous example from Benegas is one of the ‘bigger’ examples on offer, with plenty of depth to the dark fruit character and a sensible, judicious use of oak.
Try this with roast lamb or beef.
"All you would expect from a big Cabernet Franc and more. Big intense fruit of course, but there's depth and breadth too and really good freshness throughout. It can age for a few years if you can resist it."
Benegas is one of the great true stories of the wine world, a slice of living history no less, and with Gisella Garrido and Maria Alvarez in the winemaker’s team at the helm day-to-day, the future looks very bright indeed.
Federico Benegas Lynch was raised at ‘El Trapiche’, a winery established in 1883 by his great, great grandfather, Don Tiburcio Benegas, one of the original pioneers of Argentine wine. The winery was finally sold in the 1970s and in 1998, following a successful business career in Buenos Aires, Federico returned to Mendoza to re-kindle his lifelong passion and professional destiny, wine. He bought Finca La Libertad, an historic 40-hectare vineyard with ‘soils’ of stone on the old Upper Mendoza riverbank in Cruz de Piedra, and the old winery that belonged to his mother’s family which he quickly set about refurbishing. His idea was based on the traditional French Châteaux system, where proprietorship of vineyard and winery are inextricably linked.
Today Bodega Benegas itself is a marvel, a real treat for the visitor, a sort of hybrid between a museum and a welcoming family home with extensive underground cellars where archive vintages are kept, and upstairs one of the most impressive dining rooms you can imagine (with legendary asado to match if you’re lucky).
Argentina, Mendoza
Cabernet Franc
14.50%
75cl
Beef
Full Bodied
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