Why it matters
The producer
Eduardo Soler spent his working life in the mountains. He led ski patrols in Aspen and across the Mendoza Andes, the kind of work that keeps you attuned to altitude, cold, and physical risk. When he and two partners founded Ver Sacrum in 2012, they brought the same orientation: high ground, close attention, and no interest in the conventional path.
The name means "sacred spring" in Latin, and the project it names is equally deliberate. Soler and his co-founders chose Mediterranean grape varieties. Their Garnacha, grown in the Los Chacayes subzone of the Uco Valley, earned 93+ from the Wine Advocate. The wines across the range share one aim: to taste nothing like what the Argentine mainstream was producing.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The Uco Valley sits at altitude inside Mendoza province, in the Cuyo wine region of western Argentina. The Andes rise immediately to the west. Soils shift across the valley, but Los Chacayes, the subzone where Ver Sacrum farms its Garnacha, sits at one of the higher and cooler reaches within the Uco Valley appellation known formally as the Los Chacayes Geographical Indication.
At this elevation, the temperature range between day and night is wide. That diurnal swing slows ripening and keeps natural acidity in the fruit. The consequence in the glass is freshness: wines that finish with lift rather than weight, with tannins that stay light even in red varieties. Ver Sacrum grows Garnacha and Monastrell in the Uco Valley.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
All grapes are hand harvested. Most are foot crushed. Native yeast fermentation means the wine starts with whatever microflora arrived on the fruit from the vineyard, without commercial inoculants to steer the fermentation toward a predictable flavour profile. The ferments run without pump overs, which reduces extraction and keeps the tannin soft and fine.
No filtration. No corrections. Alcohol levels remain low by regional standards. The effect of this combined approach is a wine that retains freshness and perfume rather than concentrating extract and colour. The foot crushing and absence of pump overs keep tannin light. The native yeast adds microbial complexity. The lack of filtration preserves texture and aroma that a filtration pass would remove. Every step points the same direction: away from weight, toward lift.
Wines to know
The range in view
Ver Sacrum makes three documented wines, all working the same Mediterranean grape logic.
Garnacha is 100% Grenache Noir from a single vineyard in Los Chacayes, hand harvested. Across vintages it shows red cherry, raspberry, sage, thyme, and black pepper on the nose, with juicy red fruit and fresh acidity on the palate. The 2016 received 93+ from the Wine Advocate. The tannin is fine and the body is light.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
The Garnacha from Los Chacayes is the right first bottle. It is 100% Grenache Noir from a single vineyard in the Uco Valley, hand harvested, foot crushed, natively fermented, and unfiltered. The nose is red cherry, raspberry, sage, thyme, and black pepper. The palate is juicy and fresh, with bright acidity and fine, light tannin. The body is lean. The finish is clean and lifts rather than sits.