Domingo Hermanos Tannat 2022 750ml

$24.00

High-altitude Tannat, and I mean high. These vines grow at 2,200 meters in Valle Rupestre near Cafayate, Salta, in Argentina's far northwest, planted by the Domingo brothers of Bodega Domingo Molina. Hand-picked, macerated about twenty days, and bottled with no oak at all, so the grape speaks plainly. Tannat has a reputation as a tooth-staining bruiser. Altitude and restraint turn it juicy and soft here. A conversation red for Malbec drinkers ready to wander.

Strawberry compote, dark plum and licorice with a rustic forest-floor edge. Mineral and lightly smoky notes, a touch of fig, juicy and surprisingly soft for Tannat, good acidity, real weight, structured finish.

Empanadas, grilled skirt steak, chorizo off the parrilla, or a hard sheep's milk cheese.

Domingo Molina is the Domingo family's high-altitude project in the Salta mountains above Cafayate. Tannat sits at 7,300 feet on sandy, stony soils fed by mountain snowmelt. Harvest is by hand in late March, with roughly 20 days of maceration and no barrel aging.