Malbec is no longer the spoiled child of Argentine wines, attracting all the attention. It was an Argentine pinot noir that recently won our Wine of the Year 2020 award. And the country has a lot more to highlight too, from the blends sometimes labeled as “corte/gran corte” to high-altitude chardonnay and torrontes, to bonarda, and increasingly cabernet franc and even petit verdot. These varieties fill Argentina’s broad spectrum of quality wines, with no shortage of bottles that deliver great value.

Among these, cabernet franc is worthy of extra note, considering how well it does in high-altitude vineyards. Outside its French stronghold in Loire Valley and the blend from St-Emilion followed by a stellar performance in established wine regions like coastal Tuscany and Napa, today, Latin America appears to be leading a new wave of cabernet franc with Mendoza at the epicenter of it.

Thanks to the favorable climate at high altitude, many excellent cab francs in Argentina are likely to show less obvious pyrazine-driven leafiness on the nose than its Loire counterparts, and the best convert this character to a subtle, engagingly savory, herbal and peppery freshness. There’s also effortless concentration and color, with mineral transparency and vibrancy on the palate. The tannin structure of cabernet francs from the poor, limestone-rich soils can be linear and chalkier than malbecs, making the wine taste more taut than heavy. But it is also a mixed bag. Some wines have uneven ripeness problems, with pre-maturation issues and raw greenness with some overripe or jammy/sugary fruit.

Cabernet franc does exceptionally well in these high-altitude vineyards with a cool climate, intense sunshine, and calcareous soils (most notably Uco’s Gualtallary), and we have selected 11 exemplary cabernet francs from Mendoza that scored 92 points or above but retail for less than $30 per bottle, a fine line where value meets quality.

Also, check out Argentina’s many outstanding blends of malbec and cabernet franc. Some are fabulous results of co-fermentation of the two. Try Trapiche’s Iscay, Matias Riccitelli (Riccitelli and Father), Susana Balbo’s BenMarco Expresivo and Norton’s Lote Negro, to name a few. To go beyond $30, Bodega Aleanna’s Gran Enemigo, Pulenta and Rutini are some of the resounding names we would consider for Argentinian cabernet francs.

– Zekun Shuai, associate editor in Beijing