Earlier this year a Mendoza-based journalist by the name of Amanda Barnes wrote the following:

“For the last three weeks in Mendoza I’ve only been drinking one variety. It’s abounding with rich, dark fruit, grows particularly well here and is on the lips of most winemakers. Can you guess what it is yet? No, it’s not Malbec. It is the new dark horse of the eighth wine capital … a sort of Batman of wine lurking in the shadows of Malbec, but gradually taking front stage as Gotham — ahem — Mendoza city wakes up to its power. The new handsome superhero of Mendoza’s wine scene is Cabernet Franc.”

In December of 2013 Alejandro Vigil, chief winemaker at Catena Zapata, was interviewed by Drinks International. “Cabernet Franc is the future for Argentina, but the problem at the moment is that we only have 500 hectares planted across the country.” (Malbec 20,000 hectares).

He went on, “I’m currently planting 20 hectares at Catena and will plant a further 80 next year — that’s how strongly I believe in this grape. This is controversial, but I believe in the potential of Cabernet Franc over Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, particularly in the high altitude vineyards.”

As Alejandro is one of the country’s most respected winemakers and works for one of the market leaders, I have started to seriously consider Cabernet Franc from Argentina and now we have two.

The first, that arrived a few months ago, is from an excellent small producer called Fabre Montmayou. Hervé Fabre, who was born in Bordeaux, arrived in Argentina in the early 1990s and started to buy very old vineyards that produce amazing fruit. I first became aware of their existence when a sommelier selected a bottle of their Grand Vin for us from over 375 Argentine listings at a fine restaurant in the city of Mendoza.

At $14.90 the Fabre Montmayou Reserva Cabernet Franc represents well the wonderful values that this family offers. It is elegant with lovely aromas of dark fruits and a touch of mint. If you would like to try the wine that caused me to track down Diane Fabre and ask to represent their wines, then we do have Grand Vin 2007 for $35.55. It is an amazing “Bordeaux blend” of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Parker rates it 94/100 and says, “powerful but sleek, balanced and classy”.

We have just unloaded our first Cabernet Franc from Catena and it is from an area in Mendoza province called San Carlos. This is what Decanter magazine recently wrote of the 2012 vintage that we have: “Powerful, nervy, inky depth, intense, brooding dark berry and dried fig fruit, with hints of eucalyptus and molasses. The palate has crunchy acidity and beautifully integrated tannins and oak; lovely! 90+/100.” $18.95.

Last week I said that the first five people to e-mail me the most widely planted white wine grape in the world would get a good bottle of Chardonnay. A few, missing the important word “white”, wrote Cabernet Sauvignon and this is the most planted wine grape overall.

Down over the past ten years from 760,000 acres to 620,000 the Airén of Spain is the most widely planted white wine grape and it is third overall behind Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. One reader’s suggestion was that I should write about wines made from Airén, but to be honest we do not have any as its reputation for fine wine does not exist. The main use is to make wine that is then distilled and used for Spain’s brandy industry.

• This column is a paid for advertorial for Burrows Lightbourn Ltd. Michael Robinson is Director of Wine at Burrows Lightbourn Ltd. He can be contacted at mrobinson@bll.bm or 295-0176. Burrows Lightbourn has stores in Hamilton (Front Street East. 295-1554), Paget (Harbour Road, 236-0355) and St. George’s (York Street, 297-0409). A selection of their wines, beers and spirits is available online at www.wineonline.bm.