I'm glad I stumbled on this thread. There's a wine sale at one of our more reputable wine shops and I'm going to have to go back and look at the Benegas I saw there.

We've been buying a few Argentina wines of late since we're going next month (a few listed in this thread a couple years ago). We generally buy nothing over $20 (US) a bottle so my range is fairly limited, but here's some of my thoughts.

1. Terrazas de los Andes Malbec (2007): One of the best Malbecs I've tasted. We've gone to 3 wine stores in town since we had it and they're all sold out currently.

2. Alamos Malbec (2007): Nothing special. Thought I had picked up a bottle of something else last time I was at the store and got this by accident.

3. Achaval Ferrer Mendoza Malbec (2007): Although I like the Terrazas a little more, I really enjoyed this Malbec. I made the mistake initially of not letting the wine "breathe" for a little bit, but after that it was delicious.

4. Alfredo Roca Malbec (2005): This is from San Rafael actually. Almost as good as the Achaval Ferrer IMO. I think we got it for less than $10/bottle.

We have 3 or 4 more to try (at least) before we go. We've focused more on the Bodegas we plan to visit, but the "research" we're doing as part of this trip has been excellent. Unforunately the state of Minnesota has some stupid wine laws so it's sometime tough to find certain styles.

Thanks to everyone who contributes to this thread, and especially Alex for the thoughts he's provided to me as we plan our Mendoza trip.