2020 Fabre Montmayou Cabernet Sauvignon Barrel Selection Patagonia 750 ml

Fabre Montmayou’s spectacular 2020 Barrel Selection Cabernet is a reminder why their under-$20 wines always cause a sensation among our members—and why Hervé Fabre, a Mendoza pioneer, headed to make Cabernet in the wilds of Patagonia.

Pounded by high winds and whipsawed by dramatic shifts in daily temperatures, but those conditions make magic—and the 2020 Barrel Selection Cab, grown on 30-year-old vines, is lifted, graceful, and as good as Cabernet gets at this price. 

When Fabre first arrived in Mendoza in the late 1980s, it was the Wild West in Argentina. European investors were buying up property left and right, mapping out the planting of thousands of acres. There were countless old-vine parcels, and most thought they were worthless—but Fabre, a Bordeaux native, started buying them up. 

He made history in Mendoza by making the first varietal Malbec. Later, in search of more old vines and the extreme diurnal swings so critical in creating complex, balanced red wine, he bought up vineyards in the Rio Negro Valley in Patagonia.

Patagonia’s climate is very similar to France’s Northern Rhône, and 2020 handed Fabre—named 2018 Red Winemaker of the Year by the International Wine and Spirit Competition in London—a spectacular vintage. A cool and dry spring followed a frigid winter, then summer really cranked up the heat. The whole growing season stayed warm, which brought the harvest time forward about a month and resulted in impressively ripe berries with nice natural acidity.  

The proof of Fabre’s acumen is in the bottle. Savor a case of this beauty over the next ten years. It calls for hot fires, grilled steaks, plump chorizos, and great company.