Why it matters
The producer
Norwegian shipowner Dan Odfjell came to Chile in the late 1980s and became interested in the Maipo Valley, turning that interest into a family wine project. His sons, Laurence Odfjell and Dan Jr., now lead the estate, while Francisca Palacios directs the winemaking. Maipo remains the winery’s home and the source of its mid-premium wines; Maule supplies the top-tier bottlings, where old-vine Carignan takes a central role.
Odfjell began in Maipo but did not remain a single-valley project. The estate developed its winery there while exploring Cauquenes and Carignan early in Chile’s modern rediscovery of the variety. This created a portfolio with two distinct centres of gravity: Maipo for the established home vineyard and a broad set of reds, Maule for old-vine Carignan and the bottles with more pronounced grip, acidity and dry-farmed concentration.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The estate works across Maipo, Curicó and Maule, so a bottle’s origin matters at Odfjell. Maipo is the base for Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Carménère and Syrah-led wines, while Maule provides the fruit for higher-tier releases such as Vigno and Elusiva. That division is useful on the shelf: a Maipo bottle points towards the estate’s home ground and broader red-wine range, while a Maule label leads towards deeper Carignan-based material.
Tres Esquinas lies in Cauquenes, in Maule Valley, around 400 kilometres south of Santiago. Its 18 hectares include Carignan vines more than a century old, trained as individual head-trained bushes and farmed without irrigation. Those old, dry-farmed plants are the physical foundation of Vigno: Carignan’s naturally firm acidity and tannin arrive with red and dark fruit, savoury notes and a more textured palate than a straightforward fruit-forward red.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The vineyards follow organic and biodynamic farming principles, and Odfjell states that its grapes are certified organic by Ecocert Chile while its production holds sustainability certification. Norwegian Fjord horses work among the vines, aerating soils, managing winter vegetation and supplying manure. These are practical jobs: soil cultivation and vegetation control happen without treating the vineyard as a uniform surface.
The Maipo winery was designed for gravity flow, with an independent account describing 60% of the building as underground. Moving wine through the cellar by gravity reduces pumping, while the underground structure uses the hillside as part of the winery environment. For red wines that spend time in barrel, the aim is a careful handling of fruit and tannin before oak and bottle ageing take over.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range runs from Armador, Capítulo, Aliara and Zippora through Orzada to the higher-positioned Elusiva and Vigno. The first group reflects Odfjell’s Maipo base and its work with several red varieties; Orzada extends the Carignan thread; Vigno and Elusiva sit at the top of the supplied range structure.
Vigno is the most direct expression of Maule Carignan. The 2019 is 100% Carignan and receives barrel ageing, combining dark and red fruit with savoury notes, acidity and a structured, textured palate. Elusiva 2021 is a higher-tier red blend aged in 500-litre French oak barrels and concrete spheres. Its supported profile is ripe fruit held by acidity and tannin, with a persistent finish rather than sweetness or simple oak weight.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with Odfjell Vigno 2019. It is 100% Carignan from the producer’s Maule story: old, head-trained, dry-farmed vines in Cauquenes, followed by barrel ageing. In the glass it brings dark and red fruit, savoury earth, firm acidity and a textured dry palate with tannin on the finish. It puts the vineyard, grape and cellar work in one bottle without asking a blend to explain them.