Two recent bottles both coincidentally in the $16 range:
2005 Malbec, Pulenta Estate, Mendoza (Alta Agrelo), Argentina:
From estate grapes. Very deep, almost opaque violet/red. Not giving up much on the nose: some red fruit, graphite and a touch of leather. Very bright brambly fruit on the palate with hints of tar and roast meat, refined tannins, great length and structure. I've tried several moderately priced Malbecs recently and this has been my favorite by far. I seem to recall Otto N. tasting a higher priced CS from this estate and finding it too oaky, but that is not a problem here; maybe it is the 'reserve bottling' disease?
2005 Saint-Veran, En Creches, Daniel et Martine Barraud:
Youthful, but still fairly saturated gold. Fuel oil, flint and pears on the nose. Medium to full bodied, with lots more flint and minerals on the palate. Supposedly barrel fermented, but not marked by obvious oak - some slight brioche/smokey notes. Lots of depth and moderate length. Very nice chardonnay. The importer (Skurnik) says this is a practicing organic estate that uses natural yeast and does not fine or filter.