Carmela Benegas Cabernet Franc Rose

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).

And the wines? Well, forget about the ‘New World'. This is one of the best ways to experience Argentina's distinctly European wine culture. Of course, there is lovely opulence, purity and generosity in the fruit, but there is also tension, sometimes an exciting nervosity in the structure.

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.

Vineyards planted in Finca Libertad, Mendoza upper river bank at 850m altitude. After harvest, the grapes undergo a cold maceration, draining and racking. Fermentation is continued as a white wine with selected yeasts.

Sometimes we taste a wine and really want to like it because it catches the eye – in this case because it is a rosé made from Cabernet Franc, which you don't see often – and then on tasting there is disappointment. Not so here as this delivers on all fronts: the intrigue of the grape itself; the burst of gorgeous wild red fruits on the nose, the palate which is delightfully refreshing and packed full of flavour, and such great length, a cracking modern rosé.

The nose is of fresh strawberries, cherry and raspberry. A fresh and delicate entry to the palate with ample body in the mid palate with perfect harmony between fruit, acidity and alcohol. The finish is long with typical Cab Franc herbaciousness.

Great as an aperitif, otherwise drink with cod croquettes or crustaceans.