Pacheco Pereda, Estirpe Organic Fairtrade Cabernet Franc, Agrelo, Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina 2021

The appearance of two different Cabernet Franc wines in our Best In Show selection this year underscores the seriousness with which this variety is now being regarded away from its Bordeaux and Loire Valley heartlands. This Value Best In Show version from Agrelo in Lujan de Cuyo delivers, as you'd expect, extravagant fruit pleasure. It's dark black-red in colour, with warm, sweetly pippy scents bubbling from the glass. In the mouth, it's a smooth flood of soft, vibrant raspberry and damson fruits which, despite the gentleness of both its acidity and its tannins, still contrives to give the drinker a sense of texture, amplitude -- and satisfaction. A sense of gravity, too, lifts those fruit flavours well clear of simplicity: another Franc hallmark? You decide.

Back to 2022 DWWA Best in Shows: Top 50 wines to try