Vermora is a five-generation family estate at 1,180 metres in the foothills of the Andes. Eighteen hectares, four varietals, one rule we have kept since 1898 — no shortcut survives the harvest.
We are a small estate. Eighteen hectares of vines, three of olive, one of figs and a long row of rosemary that runs the length of the eastern fence. Everything here is in earshot of the kitchen.
Vermora was planted in 1898 by Olivia and Tomás Vermora, who arrived from a flooded valley in Piedmont with two suitcases, a bag of cuttings and the conviction that the soil under the Tupungato volcano would forgive the journey. It did. The first vintage they bottled was 1903 — a thin, bright field blend that they served at the local fonda and never sold.
Five generations later we have not changed very much. The cellar is still inside the original stone wall. The harvest still ends with a Sunday lunch that runs until the candles burn down. We bottle twelve and a half thousand bottles a year — sometimes fewer, never many more.
If you would like to sit on the western terrace before lunch and taste through the lineup, our cellar is open from October to April, Tuesday through Saturday, by reservation. The number is on the contact page. Lucía answers most mornings.
Three reds and a single white — bottled only in years the harvest deserves them. Everything below is in the current release; older vintages live on the vintages page.
2022
From the lower terrace, fermented in concrete egg, six months on neutral French oak. Plum, violet, a long thread of graphite.
2021
Eighteen months in French oak from the 1947 block — the oldest vines on the estate. Scored 97 by Vinous and 95 by Decanter. Numbered by hand.
2022
From the cooler upper block, picked early. Bright, savoury, almost pinot-like in its restraint. Designed for the long table.
2023
Less than a thousand bottles. Forty per cent barrel-fermented in old French oak. Citrus blossom, river stone, a long flinty finish.
Mixed case
Six bottles chosen for a meal that runs to candlelight. Includes a printed tasting note from Lucía and the recipe for our estate slow-roast lamb.
From a one-hour tasting on the western terrace to a private cellar dinner with the winemaker. Each experience is led by a member of the family and built around the wines.
Signature · 3 hr
A four-course dinner inside the original 1898 cellar, paired through six wines including a vertical of three Reservas. Limited to ten seats a night, three nights a week.
Open tasting · 75 min
Through the current release on the western terrace, with a board of estate olive oil, cured meats and local cheese.
Harvest day · February
One day on the estate at the height of the harvest. Pick at first light, press by lunch, taste the result by evening.
Sunday only · 4 hr
A communal three-course lunch under the wisteria — paired through the whole current release. Ten seats, one seating, Sundays from October.
A small Mendoza estate quietly making some of the most articulate Malbec in Argentina.
Decanter · 2024
The estate sits on a south-facing fan above the Tupungato volcano. The lower terrace is alluvial — river stones and a thin sand cap. The upper block is calcareous clay over a deep limestone shelf. The two together give us a Malbec that is dense at the front and bright at the finish.
February is dry. The fruit ripens in long, cool days and the diurnal swing — sometimes 22°C — keeps the acidity alive. We pick by hand, in 14kg crates, between five and nine in the morning.
Lucía Vermora is the fifth generation. She studied oenology in Burgundy, came back in 2017, and quietly began the slow work of de-tooling the cellar — replacing new oak with old, retiring the largest tanks, returning the entry-level Malbec to concrete.
The decisions she has made since are small and visible only in the glass. The wines are quieter now. The 2021 was the first vintage that felt like the estate had stopped trying to impress anyone.
Lucía writes a short note from the cellar every two or three weeks. Quiet, specific, occasionally about the weather. You can subscribe at the bottom of the page.
A mechanical pre-pruner went over the rows in 2018. We have spent six winters undoing what it taught the canopy.
Read the note
Forty per cent in old wood, sixty in concrete. We bottled 980 of them. They taste of river stone and citrus blossom and almost nothing else.
Read the note
We picked the upper block on the 6th, the lower on the 8th, and the Franc on the 11th. The fruit is dense and the skins are thick. We are quietly hopeful.
Read the noteWe open the tasting room from October to April, Tuesday through Saturday, by reservation only. Lucía answers the phone most mornings.