🌶️Spicy salteñas

Are they baked or fried? Baked Mendocinas have a drier, more biscuit-like dough — they want a juicier wine (Bonarda, fresh Malbec). Deep-fried empanadas are oilier — they want acidity, which is why even a beef empanada frita often works better with Torrontés or a lighter, cooler-climate red than you'd expect.

Raisins or no raisins? The traditional Salteña has raisins in the filling, which brings sweetness. Sweetness in food makes tannic reds taste bitter and harsh. That is the deeper reason Torrontés wins in the north — the wine matches the sweetness, where Malbec fights it.