We’re pleased to bring you a guest writer for this article. Kate Thomas is a long time friend and supporter of our website. She’s a wine lover like us and she’s got a good eye for a Malbec as you will see. Over to you Kate!

I’ve always enjoyed a good Malbec. For me it has often been a go-to wine, as you know what to expect, it’s difficult to find a dud and you can get a good bottle for under a tenner in most supermarkets.

However, the Malbec game changed forever when I encountered the Andeluna 1300. I was in an Argentinian steak restaurant with a good friend who knows his stuff about wine. The pressure was on when I got told to choose a bottle for us to share. But one thing was for sure, I was heading straight to Mendoza for a Malbec and I was pleased to see there was a good selection. In the end it was a toss up between Lorca Graffiti and the Andeluna 1300 (2016). When I told the waiter that we’d like a bottle of the Andeluna, I was told it was a great choice. But nothing could prepare us for what was to come.

The nose was powerful, you immediately got oak followed by beautiful red fruits and a subtle floral aroma.

I was offered the chance to have a taste first. I remember the moment so well. The nose was powerful, you immediately got oak followed by beautiful red fruits and a subtle floral aroma. Thankfully, the taste matched the nose exactly. But the thing that was perhaps the most surprising was despite the intensity of all those big flavours, the taste was perfectly balanced, fresh and the texture was silky smooth, caressing your taste buds and demanding you to have more.

I could barely contain my excitement. I had chosen one of the best malbecs I had ever encountered and couldn’t wait for my friend to try it. The look on his face confirmed that I had knocked it out of the park. We were both absolutely stunned at the quality of this wine and I felt very smug for having picked it. Smugness quickly transformed into euphoria on discovering that you could buy 3 of these stunning wines on Amazon for the price of just one bottle we were charged in the restaurant

Having had many bottles of both the 2016 and 2017, the Andeluna 1300 remains my favourite Malbec and I think you’ll struggle to find a better Malbec that tastes as good as the Andeluna for the price. The 2014 is a disappointment, however, and is certainly not worth the £19.99 price tag. Go for the 2017 which you can find on Vinissimus for £11.27 a bottle which is a bargain.