2022 Ver Sacrum Los Chacayes Gloria Garnacha (750ml)

Ver Sacrum was founded in 2012 by Eduardo Soler and two friends with a shared interest in growing Rhône varieties in Argentina, an unusual pursuit in a country dominated by Malbec. Soler, a mountaineer who once worked ski patrol before returning to Mendoza, favors minimal intervention winemaking with hand harvested, often foot crushed fruit, native yeast fermentation, and no filtration or correction in the cellar. The project now farms sites in Barrancas and Los Chacayes in the Uco Valley, growing Grenache alongside other lesser known grapes like Monastrell and Carignan.

Gloria traces back to an old 1947 vineyard of Garnacha and Mourvèdre in Barrancas that Soler once sourced from, and after losing access to the site, he propagated cuttings from those original vines in a small plot in Los Chacayes. This bottling comes entirely from that plot, hand harvested and about half fermented as whole clusters with native yeast. After a short skin maceration, the wine finishes fermenting in French oak and clay amphora, then ages another eighteen months split between the two before resting in bottle for nearly two more years.

The wine opens with a perfumed nose of raspberry and cranberry layered over notes of wet clay and ash. On the palate it turns soft and round, showing red cherry and warm baking spices framed by fine, mineral-tinged tannins. Serve it with grilled quail, charcuterie, or a spiced lentil stew.