This is a beautiful slab of chocolate for Domori, displaying fewer irregularities their low impact philosophy tends to impart. For Madagascar, the color is typical: light and orange in shade, similar to rust. After a few minutes allowing the bar to breathe (Domori’s bars require some aeration), the scent echoes the balsamic orientation of the Sambirano bar but opts for a mix of wood and raisin primarily, then orange and bitter almonds later, softening the scent and imparting a tangy, softer, and much more balanced scheme than Sambirano.
Like most Madagascans Domori’s is highly fruity, but this one is unique. Its flavors are dense and concentrated, showing two exaggerated and very different themes that, like a Fauvist, scream contrast. The first hue is deeply red and delivered in various shades such as a low balsamic undertone, plums, and berries, all of which, however, sink into the background as orange and spurts of black pepper break the monotony and make the flavor softer, tangier, and more complex, mimicking buttermilk and orange, while bitter nuts add even more tangy flair.
Texturally, the bar could not be better. It’s a polished and defined consistency that unlike the flavor remains steady and even, revealing only a nib fragment on occasion. The chocolate as a whole seems to have originated from the palette of Henri Matisse, created with such a bright density that it practically smothers with its concentrated flavors. It is indeed bold in a distinct way that like the “wild beasts†emphasizes exaggeration of a representational form. This is not to say Domori has strayed in their wanderings but rather captured Madagascar in dynamic colors that are simultaneously deep and vibrant.
