Portugal · DoTejo

ODE Winery

A revived 1902 cellar in Tejo where Maria Vicente shapes mixed-variety reds and Alicante Bouschet through steel, used oak and clay amphorae.

The producer

ODE Winery works from a building constructed in 1902 in Vila Chã de Ourique, Cartaxo. Limestone lies beneath vineyards within an organically and regeneratively managed farm of vines, vegetables and animals; plantings include Arinto, Fernão Pires, Alvarinho, Touriga Nacional and Alicante Bouschet. That mix supports both white wines and contrasting reds rather than a single house style.

Maria Vicente uses native fermentation, oak and filtration selectively. ODE Quarteto 2023 co-ferments four varieties in stainless steel before half the blend spends ten months in used French oak, bringing black fruit, earth, cedar and drying tannin. ODE Amphora 2022 takes 100% Alicante Bouschet through twelve months in clay amphorae, with dark fruit, spice, texture and firm acidity.

Known for

Tejo wines shaped through stainless steel, used French oak and traditional clay amphorae.

Notable facts

The story

A Cellar Returns To Work

Before ODE began operating in December 2021, its winery in Vila Chã de Ourique had stood abandoned for ten years after an earlier remodelling. During that period, the vines still produced grapes, though at low yields, and received neither pesticides nor herbicides. When the new team took on the property, they refurbished the building first constructed in 1902 while retaining its historic presses, lagares, amphorae and other cellar equipment. The old machinery returned to a working winery alongside stainless steel, barrels and newer tools. ODE’s first wines were therefore made in a revived Tejo cellar whose original equipment had remained on site through the years of abandonment.

From the atlas

ODE Winery

At A Glance

ODE Winery works from a 1902 cellar in Vila Chã de Ourique, Cartaxo, in Portugal’s Tejo region. Its documented bottles move between mixed-variety reds, white wines and a single-variety Alicante Bouschet matured in clay amphorae, with winemaker Maria Vicente drawing on more than twenty vintages of experience.

The Producer

ODE began operating in December 2021 in a building first constructed in 1902, keeping original winery machinery in use rather than treating the old cellar as decoration. The result is a Tejo project where stainless steel, used oak and clay amphorae each have a defined role: Quarteto is co-fermented in steel and partly matured in barrel, while Amphora takes Alicante Bouschet through a year in clay.

Maria Vicente comes from Alentejo and has worked more than twenty harvests. Her work as a Madeira and Port educator, WSET teacher and competition judge sits alongside a cellar method that uses native fermentation, oak and filtration selectively, according to the winery. Those choices leave room for different wine shapes rather than applying one house texture to every bottle.

Place

ODE sits in Vila Chã de Ourique, in Cartaxo, beside the Tagus River in Tejo. The estate combines a winery with a farm and rural-living project, so vines are part of a larger working property rather than an isolated block. The labels draw from plantings including Arinto, Fernão Pires, Alvarinho, Touriga Nacional, Semillon, Alicante Bouschet and Cabernet Sauvignon; that mix opens a path from fresh white grapes to dark-skinned reds.

Soil And Site

Limestone lies beneath ODE’s vineyards. Above it, the farm is managed organically and regeneratively, with vegetables, animals and vines integrated into the property. This is a farming setting with several crops and living systems in view, while the wines themselves show the cellar’s separate decisions: steel for fruit-led fermentation, old oak for a broader red texture, and amphora for Alicante Bouschet.

Story

The working premise at ODE is unusually physical: an old Tejo winery had to become a cellar again. The 1902 building supplies historic machinery and vessels; the contemporary operation supplies a winemaker willing to use them alongside stainless steel and French oak. That combination appears most clearly in the contrast between Quarteto, a four-variety red assembled through co-fermentation, and Amphora, a one-grape wine kept in traditional clay.

The farm also avoids a narrow varietal script. Arinto, Fernão Pires and Alvarinho sit among the documented white plantings, while Touriga Nacional, Alicante Bouschet and Cabernet Sauvignon belong to the reds. A bottle name therefore needs reading alongside its grape and vessel: Quarteto signals combination, while Amphora states the method central to its shape.

Vineyards And Cellar

ODE describes its approach as minimal intervention, but the useful detail is its selectivity. Native fermentation is used where the fruit permits it; oak and filtration are used when they serve the wine. For Quarteto 2023, four varieties were co-fermented in stainless steel, then passed through a long, slow malolactic fermentation. Half the blend spent ten months in used 500-litre French-oak barrels, a choice that adds cedar and breadth without making new-oak flavour the dominant note.

ODE Amphora 2022 takes a more singular route. It is 100% Alicante Bouschet, fermented and aged for twelve months in traditional clay amphorae. Clay is not presented as a flavouring agent here; its role is part of a wine whose documented profile centres on dark fruit, spice, texture and active acidity.

Wines

The documented range includes white wines based on grapes such as Arinto and Viognier, alongside two clearly distinct reds. Quarteto 2023 is the blended, co-fermented wine: medium-bodied, savoury and built around black fruit, earth and truffle, with soft but drying tannin. Independent notes add blackberry, blueberry, cedar, tobacco and sandy tannin, with above-medium acidity and a fresh, slightly short finish.

Amphora 2022 narrows the focus to Alicante Bouschet and clay. The wine is described as vibrant, powerful and textured, with the grape’s dark-fruited register carried through an amphora élevage rather than a barrel programme. These are not interchangeable reds: Quarteto brings several varieties and used oak into one frame, while Amphora places one dark-skinned grape against a clay vessel.

In The Glass

Quarteto opens toward blackberry and blueberry, then moves into cedar, tobacco, earth and truffle. Its medium body keeps the fruit from feeling heavy, while above-medium acidity and sandy, drying tannin pull the palate toward a savoury finish. The used French oak belongs in the background, adding a dry woody edge to the black-fruit core.

Amphora shows a darker, spicier sequence: dark cherry and cranberry, cracked pepper, dark chocolate, ginger, star anise, clove and sweet pipe tobacco have all been recorded in tasting. Red berries and earth follow on the palate, with fine, assertive acidity providing grip through the finish. The texture is substantial, but the acidity keeps the fruit moving rather than settling into sweetness.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with ODE Amphora 2022. It is 100% Alicante Bouschet, fermented and aged for twelve months in traditional clay amphorae, so both the grape and the vessel are explicit. Expect dark fruit, red berries, spice, earth and a textured palate cut by mineral acidity. It introduces ODE through a single clear decision: take a deeply coloured Tejo red grape and let clay, rather than oak, shape its development.

Anecdote

Before ODE opened its cellar doors in December 2021, the 1902 winery had stood abandoned for ten years after an earlier remodelling. Portugal Resident reported that the vines continued to produce, though at low yields, and received neither pesticides nor herbicides during that period. When the new team took on the site in Vila Chã de Ourique, they refurbished the building while retaining historic presses, lagares, amphorae and other equipment. The old machinery returned to a working cellar beside newer tools, and the revived winery began making wine in the same building that had first been constructed in 1902.

Final Word

ODE is worth seeking out for its visible contrasts: limestone beneath mixed plantings, a 1902 cellar operating again, and wines shaped through steel, used oak or clay. Amphora offers the clearest look at the latter; Quarteto shows how the cellar handles a broader red blend.

Sources

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