T-OINOS: Repositioning Tinos’ land on the wine map!

In October 2024, because of the invitation of the T-Oinos winery, Genius in Gastronomy sommelier team visited the island of Tinos for another exploration of the renaissance of the Tinos’ vineyard, something that happened under the people of the estate initial initiative. During this short visit, we spoke with T-oinos winery team and learned information about the history of viticulture on the island that begins 6,000 years ago!

Although the unique Cycladic landscape has been associated with the tradition of viticulture for many years, in recent decades its more modern form – which always retains the element of tradition – is more often translated into references closely linked to the intense tourist field of famous destinations. However, the case of Tinos and specifically the case of the rebirth of Tinos’ viticultural production is a significant exception out of the box, with a significant differentiation of the starting point. Here, the viticulture of T-Oinos repositioned the island on the wine map without involving the mass tourist element and the real estate buisiness of the Cyclades, keeping the landscape of the vineyards wild and in complete harmony with the quality that comes out and is directly linked to enjoyment.

Tinos’ Land, a short journey through time.

Although as mentioned, viticulture on the island begins 6000 years ago, a visitor to the island realizes that the testimonies of the sweeping of the vineyards by violent local winds (“meltemia”) in Antiquity and then in the Middle Ages are not far from the modern reality of the island which is intertwined with the intense wind element. The team was really lucky as there was no wind during the days of the visit, a rare occurrence for the terroir of Tinos! Rare for the island which, according to mythology, is the home of the god Aeolus, who fortunately welcomed us with calm!

Coming to the relatively recent past, the 1960s marked the cessation of traditional viticulture on the island due to the search for more efficient work for that time, away from agricultural production, combined with internal and non migration of the local population. The islands agricultural and viticultural activity of the past is “betrayed” by the terraces that we see throughout the island, a fact that takes us in a way, visually to the island’s past.

In 2002, the first bet was made to start quality viticulture at the same time as a bet on the resumption of the systematic viticultural tradition of the island, something that others would later follow. The thought behind of T-Oinos project was also the selection of locations where their terroir had been identified with viticulture since very old times.

This fact was a derivative of the conception of the idea of Alexandros Avatangelos in 1999: to recreate an abandoned vineyard starting from scratch. Subsequently, the implementation of this idea was carried out in partnership with Gerard Margeon, head sommelier of the Alain Ducasse restaurants. Thus, in 2002, the plantings took place in Stegasta at an altitude of 470 meters with Assyrtiko and Mavrotragano, based on the suggestions of the locals, who claimed that it was the best spot for viticulture and directly linked to its tradition on the island. In 2003, the plantings in Rasonas at an altitude of 370 meters with Mavrotragano followed, while in 2004 the vineyard in Agios Dimitrios was planted at an altitude of 360 meters with Mavrotragano and Avgoustiati, which is also the lowest altitude of the estate. Then we have the vineyard in Sparveri at an altitude of 350 meters which is the lowest of the estate.

In 2008 we have the first winemaking at T-Oinos and the following year (2009) the first bottling of the estate takes place. At the same time, the first official bottled wine of the island is created. The bottling also marked the beginning of a high-class gastronomic approach of the estate’s people and was what we called an occasion for the collaboration with the Ducasse Group in 2010 and the introduction of T-Oinos’ wines to high gastronomic destinations. Until 2013, the entire production was committed by the Ducasse Group, but from that year we see the first bottlings that are also mentioned in the Greek market. In 2016, the estate goes through a more intense qualitative upgrade after the participation of Stephane Derenoncourt (sought-after wine consultant in Bordeaux) and his team in the T-Oinos project begins.

The landscape

From a broader perspective, the soil characteristics of the entire island are composed of slate and clay, with very interesting variations in its most important viticultural zones. A key feature of the areas where the T-Oinos vineyards are located is the wildness and this is exactly what the people of the estate want to transfer to the wines produced. By working the soil correctly, despite the intense difficulties that compose it, one can observe that the results of quality based on complete organic-bio management with a strong element of biodynamic practices, are distinguished not only in the wines, which are the final product of this proper management, but also in the quality of the vine foliage, which in a very dry year like this one (2024), in the driest parts of the vineyard was lush green.

The soil in Rasonas is characterized by clay and slate, the vineyard is located below a small valley and has an eastern exposure. Its local name is “pezoules” (aka terraces), which also characterizes the morphology of the island’s landscape. There, Mavrotragano encounters difficulties related to the morphology of the soil to easily develop its root system. Mavrotragano, as a robust variety, shows productivity in the buds located after the fourth bud, a fact that requires high growth of the plant, which is a deterrent for the island, considering the strong winds of the area. Of course, it rewards us by producing grapes of excellent quality with a very low production, approximately one hundred and fifty kilos per hectare in the first years of T-Oinos and almost double now, after the arduous efforts of the estate team, having changed the configuration from “Gobelet” to “Single Guyot”. Mavrotraganos wines are becoming increasingly popular among hunters of good Greek red wine every year, making it difficult for the estate’s people to keep a large archive for the future!

A similar case of terraced morphology can be found in the Agios Dimitrios vineyard, located near the village of Falatados, where we find about thirty terraces at an altitude of 360 meters. The soil is schistose and sandy and the sun exposure is higher compared to other vineyards, which helps in the production of high-class Mavrotraganos.

At Stegasta, in the eighty-acre vineyard of the estate, we can see sandy soil combined with granite subsoil, elements that provide the wines with rigor. There, the “host” is mainly Assyrtiko, which develops its complex dynamics having left its usual home of Santorini. However, a small part of Stegasta is also characterized by clay from which the most premium white label of T-Oinos is produced, which is among the most premium Greek white wine: “Rare”. In this small part of the vineyard, due to the clay, Assyrtiko gives a richer structure compared to the “simple” Clos Stegasta, the other white label of the estate, always in harmony with the different approach at the end of the winemaking process, where a glass amphora and a five-hundred-liter barrel are used.

The visitor here is left speechless during his visit to the vineyard on the Stegaston plateau due to the impressive and huge granite formations that compose the landscape with the Tsiknias ridge as a backdrop, with its highest point at 750 meters, which “rivals” the presence of “Exomvourgos”, an imposing rock at an altitude of 640m formed by schists and granites which is famous for the island. The huge granite formations on the plateau are also a phenomenon for the island, similar to few others around the world. A phenomenon which is also associated with mythological narratives about battles between giants and gods with huge stones, where at the end of the battles they were left there to compose the landscape. Certainly, the scientific accounts of geologists speak of erosion of the shale soil resulting in the appearance of the granite that was underneath. This difficult spot for “building” a vineyard is perhaps the most intense challenge for Cycladic viticulture since it requires the laborious cultivation of the soil and at the same time the overall difficult management of the vineyard due to the climate. The location is included to “European Ecological Network NATURA” , a fact that contributes to its special and careful management, always oriented towards respect for the natural landscape that produces these great wines.

The choice of the name “Clos Stegasta” for the famous labels of the estate is a reference to the history of viticulture of the Tinian land and specifically in the Stegasta area, where the presses for wine production were built in protected areas – “sheltered” – to protect them from the strong meltemi of the island. Also, until 1960, the area was a place to host an informal variety bazaar during the harvest, where locals had the opportunity to buy grapes for their local winemaking – report the older people of the island.

Production

The estate cultivates four varieties – Assyrtiko, Mavrotragano, Avgoustiati and Malagouzia – producing six labels that combine the historical elements of wine production, with the adaptability of the varieties to the Tinos landscape. Results that were given after difficult but consistent experimentation with other varieties in the early years of the project to arrive at this choice. For example, when the estates were purchased there were very few remaining vines of local, easy-to-oxidize Cycladic varieties such as Potamisi, a fact that emphasizes that the ladscapes soil had a “memory” in viticulture.

Since the beginning of the project, every year has been a challenge for the island’s viticulture, as the clay that is a basic element in the soil, in cases of water scarcity becomes very hard and suffocates the vine, while in the case of sand the opposite happens. Especially in recent years when rainfall is less and the snow that strongly feeds the aquifer is minimal. The harvest for T-Oinos differs from the rest of the Cyclades by about a month and a half, especially in the case of Stegasto. Also, usually a single intervention in the vineyards for the harvest is never enough, as each point of them differs in grapes maturation. An important element regarding the climate of the area is that in addition to the local winds and the altitude – which differs from the rest of the Cyclades, the temperature is also balanced by the local “antares”. That is a phenomenon with clouds that occupy the landscape from six in the morning until three in the afternoon, where they retreat with the action of the winds. “Antares” not only contribute to the balancing of solar radiation on the plant, but also to the preservation of acidity and aromas, making these elements unalterable. The effect of the local winds on the vines is certainly interesting, as in addition to aeration – which is a prevention for diseases – they transport iodine and salt from the sea, affecting the plants and their fruits – and subsequently the final product. Besides, “salinity” is a characteristic of T-Oinos wines. “If someone walks through the vineyard in August, they can observe the foliage of the plants, which is eroded by salt”, the hosts explain to us.

As the overall project of T-Oinos concerns the sustainability not only of the natural landscape but also of the local human factor, there is a stable team of eight people who are engaged in viticultural work in the vineyards of the estate with a total area of 130 acres. Also, the entire project and the thought of restarting viticulture on the island revolves around the overall sustainability of the people of the island but also those who would like to live on it in the future. Also was a move towards the development of agricultural primary production that had been lost. After all, after the success of T-Oinos, we see others following suit.

The immediate future of T-Oinos

At this time, the new winery of the project is being prepared with a deep study in harmony with the original idea. Where it could not be inconsistent with the overall approach of the people of the estate, the sustainability. So in the immediate future we will have a underground winery that will be fully bioclimatic and autonomous in energy, in harmony with the environment of the vineyards, Tinos’ land. The impression we got from the people of the estate – about whom you will also find information on
T-Oinos website – is that the team spirit and the support of the local factor dominate their logic. T-Oinos consists of a group of people who constantly enrich the original idea of Alexandros Avataggelos. This is an important element that was translated to us with their hospitality and open disposition to transmit information related to the estate and the Tinian land, once again after the first visit in autumn 2023. It can also be translated to the future visitor who wants to discover the terroir of the great wines of the reborn Cycladic vineyard. Noting the importance of the backbone of the project which is the human being in a proper management of the natural factor, in combination with the transmission and proper regeneration of the local tradition.

T-Oinos thank you!