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Odfjell

Odfjell

Odfjell's unique gravity flow winery, designed by Laurence Odfjell, the son of the founder, allows for extremely gentle handling of the grapes. The winery is situated on a slope above the vineyards. Carved into the slope, over 60% of the winery is underground.

 

This subterranean environment achieves naturally low and stable temperatures for storage. The design incorporates a number of passive cooling strategies such as, optimizing solar orientation and using 30cm thick concrete walls as thermal mass.

Gravitational wineries ensure that during the winemaking pumping is reduced to an absolute minimum, thus avoiding unnecessary agitation of the wine.

85 hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Carmenère, Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Malbec are planted in Maipo, while Cauquenes and Curico are planted with old vines of Carignan and Malbec, and are organically farmed. Ducks can be seen roaming the vineyards, eating the bugs that fall off as the vines are tended to. From 1998-2008, acclaimed US winemaker Paul Hobbes was a consulting winemaker for Odfjell. By controlling the yields and cutting back the leaves so the berries receive more sunlight, he was able to avoid the overly vegetal, green profiles that can be off-putting in some Chilean wines.