Bodega Renacer R Icon Cabernet Franc 2018

Bodega Renacer’s iconic flagship offering, the 2018 Bodega Renacer R Icon Cabernet Franc (92 Points – Tim Atkin, MW), speaks volumes from the moment it is poured. Imbued with a deep ruby and violet robe, the highly allocated R Cabernet Franc had us at the first sniff. Succulent scents of crushed red and black currants, plum, mint, and rich coffee tones waft from the glass. The wine’s complex berry flavors and heady aromatics carry through to the palate, offering an explosion of savory fruit and woodsy tones that just keep on coming. Add hints of vanilla, dark chocolate, and spice from 24 months in French oak barrels and Renacer’s 2018 R Cabernet Franc is just getting started. Although immediately hard to resist, the wine’s concentration and complexity continue to unfold beautifully in the glass and persist to a gratifying finish. Buckle up! Afford the youthful, flavor-packed 2018 Bodega Renacer R Cabernet Franc at least 30 minutes of aeration before serving it at cool room temperature (58°-62° F). Also, be sure to lay down a few bottles of this rare Cabernet Franc. With additional bottle age, the 2018 Renacer R Cabernet Franc will pay handsome dividends. Anticipated maturity: 2024-2032. Enjoy!

Argentina is renowned for its high quality meats, especially beef, so it should come as no surprise that Bodega Renacer’s majestic 2018 R Icon Cabernet Franc provides the ideal companion to the finest cuts of steak, prime rib, and roasts, or just about any animal protein. Veal Medallions wrapped with prosciutto ham also make our mouths water as does Roast Colorado Rack of Lamb, especially when served with potato gnocchi, pearl onions, and mushrooms. Sous Vide Duck Breast served with a blackberry reduction over wild rice and Skirt Steak wrapped around asparagus, chimichurri root vegetable, and dinosaur kale and topped with Gorgonzola foam make splendid partners too. Add a side of plum corn salsa for an added gustatory delight. Hearty meat and vegetable stews also make splendid accompaniments. Slow roasted chicken and stuffed game birds provide additional pairings worthy of the delectable 2018 Bodega Renacer R Cabernet Franc. Buon Provecho!

Bodega Renacer was founded by Patricio Reich in 2003. In collaboration with the highly acclaimed and award winning winemaker Lucas Amoretti, Bodegas Renacer fashions an enviable portfolio of outstanding varietal wines from Mendoza’s finest vineyards and terroirs. Located in Perdriel in sight of the towering Andes where the soil, climate, altitude, and availability of water provide the ideal environment for the cultivation of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Malbec, Bodegas Renacer’s wines are rendered pure and natural tasting, vegan certified, and certified organic as of 2021. The estate has a total of 100 acres of vines under cultivation in Perdriel and draws additional grapes from select Mendoza vineyards in Lujan de Cuyo, Medrano, and the Uco Valley.

Patricio Reich has combined his longstanding passion for wine with his extensive business and industrial engineering experience in creating Bodega Renacer. Patricio has worked for the World Bank, been an executive for the Santiago Chamber of Commerce in his native Chile, and constructed an incredible state of the art winery at Bodegas Renacer where the bodega’s wines are carefully crafted after a double culling and selection process. The estate’s wines offer extraordinary quality as well as value, and they regularly garner international acclaim from Tim Atkin, James Suckling, Vinous, Wine Spectator, and Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, yet none is more renowned than this month’s feature, the iconic 2018 Bodega Renacer R Cabernet Franc.

Without the towering Andes, there would be no cultivation of the vine in Mendoza and no real agriculture as we know it, nor would viticulture thrive in the river valleys of central Chile, which lie just across the Andean spine or Cordillera from Mendoza – a mere one hundred miles as the condor flies but a torturous eight-hour adventure by car. Simply, it is the Andes that give life to the desert-like Mendoza and the arid rift valleys of Chile. Specifically, it is Andean snows that accumulate upon the higher elevations of the Andes that give life and sustenance to these parched parcels of South America that yield the continent’s finest wines.

In order to make the desert bloom, the inhabitants of the Andes have come to rely on their mighty mountains for water. By sluicing off the Andean snow melt and directing its waters into canals, much of Argentina and Chile are now productive farmland and especially suited to the cultivation of the vine. Since the Italian migration to Argentina in the 19th century and subsequent settlement in the Illinois-sized province of Mendoza, the Mighty Mendoza has become the largest wine producing area in South America, leading Argentina to fifth among the world’s leading wine producing nations just behind the United States. Without the Andes, there would be no wine or much else to speak of from Mendoza. Viva Los Andes!