“Since 1998, we have been imagining and making groundbreaking wines,” says Felipe Tosso, Chief Winemaker at this family-owned winery. Their philosophy is to go “a step beyond” using inspired winemaking and estate vineyards planted in some of the most extreme terroirs to craft modern, avant-garde, high-quality wines.

The creative partnership of Felipe and Consulting Winemaker John Duval, formerly Chief Winemaker at iconic Penfolds and owner of the Long Shadows Project in Washington State, gave birth to Vertice. This unique blend of Carménère and Syrah is grown at the highest point of the Ventisquero family’s steeply sloped Apalta Vineyard, one of the highest in the Chilean coastal mountain range. Meticulous handcrafting, including low-temperature prefermentative maceration to bring out maximum color and aromas, showcases each varietal. The labels of each bottle of this stunner are proudly signed by both John and Felipe.

“Tara Chardonnay is born from the world´s driest desert, the Atacama, where rainfall scarcely reaches 20 millimeters a year, the nights are cold, and the darkness is absolute, but where every morning the land is blanketed by the coastal fog – the Camanchaca – offering a brief respite to sun-baked landscape,” explains Felipe. “This climate, together with the extreme salinity of the soil and the irrigation water, make this one of the most hostile places for growing vines. We are the first to establish a vineyard here.”

For their initial planting, they used rootstocks that were specifically modified for saltiness. “It was very sad when all the grapes died,” says Felipe. “But if you have a strong vision, you keep going.” Surprisingly, they found success with ungrafted Chardonnay plants. “The natural vines survived better. Now we don’t need to prune, because the yields are so low — it is like one bottle per plant.” This unique, handcrafted wine faithfully represents the desert, and is proudly included on the wine lists of the world’s top five restaurants.

“Our team works ‘round the clock to create varied, innovative wines to be shared with good company or during special moments,” says Felipe.