2024 Mendel Malbec Mendoza

Bodega Mendel is a boutique winery in Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza, founded by the Sielecki family and built around blocks of old-vine fruit in the heart of Argentina's most historic growing zone. Mendel made its name early on as a small-production house focused on serious, age-worthy reds expressing Mendoza terroir rather than chasing volume.

The wine is made by Roberto de la Mota, Mendel's winemaker and partner and one of the most influential figures in Argentine wine. He grew up in the cellar alongside his father, the legendary 20th-century winemaker Raúl de la Mota, and trained in France at Montpellier, where he was mentored by the renowned enologist Émile Peynaud. Before Mendel, de la Mota co-created Cheval des Andes — the celebrated joint venture between Terrazas de los Andes and Bordeaux's Château Cheval Blanc — and has served as president of the DOC Luján de Cuyo. He was recognized as Winemaker of the Year in 2026 by Descorchados.

Bodegas Mendel sits next to one of the oldest Malbec vineyards in Lujan de Cuyo, planted in 1928 in the Mayor Drummond district. This wine comes from those estate vines — old-vine fruit aged twelve months in Taransaud Burgundy barrels, the same oak cooperage Burgundy's best producers use.

Malbec from Mendoza at this level delivers the concentration Napa Cab drinkers pay forty dollars more for. Dark fruit, polished tannins, and the kind of structure that makes grocery-store Malbec feel like a different grape entirely.

Two 93-point scores — James Suckling and Tim Atkin — on a wine priced under twenty-six dollars. That's the arbitrage.