We brought back eight bottles of wine from Argentina, which is four more than you are allowed duty free. All you have to do is declare it, and they may (but most likely not) ask you to pay a tax. The tax is only 3 percent, I think, and on $15 bottles, it doesn’t add up to much. Fortunately for us, we didn’t have to pay.

Here are the wines we brought back:

• Norton Reserva Malbec 2004
• Septimo Dia de Bodega Septima Malbec 2005
• Enrique Foster Reserva Malbec 2003
• Ben Marco Malbec 2003
• Luigi Bosca Reserva Malbec 2004
• Bodega Lurton Reserva Malbec 2005
• Don Nicanor Bodegas Nieto Senetiner Malbec 2004
• Xumek Sol Huarpe Syrah 2004

The Malbecs are all from Mendoza and the Syrah is from San Juan. According to the guy in the wine store, Mendoza produces the best Malbecs and San Juan produces the best Syrahs. The Syrah won a silver medal in 2007 for Syrah du Monde (Syrah of the World).

At dinner at Gran Bar Danzon I tried the Ben Marco and Enrique Foster, and loved both. But the first wine store we went to didn’t sell either. So, we just asked for six bottles of wine, and the guy picked them all out. We hadn’t tried any of them. The wine store near our hotel had both the Ben Marco and Enrique Foster, so we picked up a bottle of each. That’s how we ended up with eight bottles.

Update: Last night we made beef stew and opened the bottle of Norton Malbec. The wine was really good; it went perfectly! I have a feeling we will be able to find this wine in the U.S. because it is a big name.

We’ll keep you posted on the other wines as we try them. You can read about our Argentinean eating adventure here.