Tarllc
COUNTRY: Armenia
REGION: Vayots Dzor
Aaron Sedrick Rawlins left his home in the U.S. when he was eighteen years old to become a chef in Paris. Since then, his life has consisted of a further series of twists and turns, which ultimately led him to where he is now: making wine in the mountains of Armenia. Aaron started Tarllc on his own, but has worked alongside his wife, Maral, since their marriage in 2020.
Aaron and Maral’s vineyards are situated around the village of Aghavnadzor, in Vayots Dzor province. Vayots Dzor – in southeastern Armenia – is a sparsely populated area focused on wine production, mineral water, and cattle-farming. It is the home of the Areni-1 winery, the oldest discovered winery in the Areni-1 cave complex (6,100 years old!).
Aaron and Maral farm organically, harvest by hand, and only work with local varietals. Their vines are head-trained and spur-pruned; they are ungrafted and are around 150 years old, on average. The vineyards are planted on volcanic soil and range in elevation from 1400m-1600m; they are dry farmed, without tillage or mowing. Organic treatments are used only when necessary, no more than once or twice a year. Likewise, Aaron and Maral prune and perform some canopy management, when necessary in order to mitigate disease.
Because some portions of Tarllc’s vineyard land were either abandoned or conventionally farmed before Aaron and Maral took over, transitioning the vines to this style of farming has looked slightly different at each site. Aaron and Maral work thoughtfully with their vines, “and always with an uncompromising respect for nature’s voice.” They go on: “Through our work in the vineyards, we hope to not only live in a healthy environment but also to learn from it and contribute to its continued preservation. We are of the firm conviction that healthy vineyards are the foundation of authentic terroir character.”
Tarllc’s wines are fermented and aged naturally, in fiberglass tanks. They are left unfined and unfiltered, and are made without added yeast or sulfur. “Our work in the cellar is limited to intentional restraint, seeking only to channel the unadulterated essence of the terroir, from site into bottle,” they explain. “With neither frills nor dogma, we produce expressive wines from healthy grapes shaped by the distinctive terroir.”
CUVÉES
061 Vayots Dzor
Grape: Sev Areni
Soil: volcanic
Average Age of Vines: 150 years
Winemaking: grapes are destemmed, punch downs happen throughout fermentation (40-45 days), free run and pressed juice age together on the fine lees. The 061 site is above the village on a plateau significantly higher than the other sites.
Aging: fiberglass.
041 Vayots Dzor
Grape: Sev Areni
Soil: volcanic
Average Age of Vines: 150 years
Winemaking: grapes are destemmed, punch downs happen throughout fermentation (40-45 days), free run and pressed juice age together on the fine lees. The 041 site is on the side of the valley below the village.
Aging: fiberglass
