From Tinos to the end of the world

to express the eternal and the ephemeral through a bottle of wine

We are interested in best expressing the “terroir” with the least possible intervention on it.

We aim to respect the land and the vineyard in order to highlight what it has to offer.

In a breathtaking place of great natural beauty with scattered, granite rocks that constitute a unique worldwide phenomenon, Alexandros Avatagelos and Gerard Margeon dreamed of creating the vineyard of T-OINOS. “The energy and dynamic we experienced when we visited the area, in this arid landscape like a Titanic battlefield, left us no doubt. It was exactly the place we were looking for to re-create once again the vineyard that existed on the island 6.000 years ago. We had been told about the region by Praxiteles Tzanoulinos, the famous Greek sculptor who comes from Falalados. Michalis, his brother, a viticulturist his whole life, introduced us step by step the land that touched him ever since he was a child.

It became for us a lifetime aim to keep intact the natural environment while creating the necessary structures for the sustainable development of the area through the revival of the vineyard and the production of a fine wine that will travel, all over the world to present its uniqueness”! says Mr Avatangelos and continues “Gerard, Michalis and Stephane Derenoncourt, one of the most Important oenologists in the world who joined the team shortly after, share the same passion in life: to express the eternal and the ephemeral through a bottle of wine. The vision was common, it was theirs, it was mine, it is always the vision of people who share the same philosophy and unconventional thinking in contrast to a narrow-minded approach.

The project in the privately-owned vineyard, began in early 2000’s, the first planting took place in 2002 and it was only a few years ago, in 2010, when the wines of T-OINOS reached Alain Ducasse’s famous restaurants, representing the unique terroir in which they were created. “When we started to create the project, we did not rest on our dreams. Our main concern was and still is the well designed, organized, hard work in order to highlight what nature has offered us so generously. This is for us much more important than words and communication. We chose to emphasize on the classic varieties of the Cyclades, Assyrtiko and Mavrotragano, the ones that are grown for years in this complex of islands as, in fact, Tinos is in their center.

It was a common decision to follow the guidance of our group of winegrowers and oenologists and plant the varieties that best reflect and express themselves in this place and cultivate them organically”. 80000 vines were planted in 130 acres of land aiming to reach 120000 vines by 2025, covering 170 acres when the project is concluded, and it reaches the production of 50000 bottles of these unique wines. The cost of the investment has exceeded 7 million euros so far and it is projected to reach 10 million euros upon its conclusion.

“We should keep in mind that in a vineyard of such size in another region they produce three or four times the quantity of wine. We are interested in best expressing the “terroir” with the least possible intervention. Our wine growers pamper every plant with care and love, to help it grow and give now and in the future remarkable results. The goal is to portray the terroir and its dynamic in the glass, to impose itself and not even talk when you drink the wine. We’re here to respect the land and the vineyard and highlight the products it has to offer, not to seek a short-term profit”.

Alexandros Avatangelos shares his dream with some of the most prominent wine personalities in the world having chosen to work with people who are pioneers in viticulture, oenology and wine trade in countries such as France, Switzerland, Belgium, UK and Japan which are the main markets for the products of

T-OINOS. “In foreign markets there is a number of consumers, wine lovers who understand and value the distinctive characteristics of a vintage or a bottle. We are oriented towards them to highlight the uniqueness of the island’s terroir in Stegasta and Falatados and to present to these few in numbers but important people what our land may offer” and Mr Avatangelos continues “recognition, excellence, publications are not a goal in itself, nor they make me anxious. They come effortlessly when you have done your best to design and materialize a project in which you believe, and it expresses you. Vines create for me the strongest emotions and guide us to do everything possible to improve them. The awareness of the climate change, the preservation of the natural environment, the sustainability for the future of the region are the issues that concern me most so that we could pass our inheritance to the future generations.

T-OINOS has reached the place it deserves in the world wine community having produced 30.000 bottles per year -with a potential to reach shortly 50.000 bottles- and many articles, references and acknowledgments in the international press.

Things are never as easy as they seem – especially when behind the cultivation efforts one may find huge granite boulders – but the team of professionals insisted where no one dared. In a unique terroir, Alexandros Avatangelos and Gerard Margeon, the wine grower Michalis Tzanoulinos and later on Stephane Derenoncourt, one of the most important oenologists in the world, shared the same vision for quality wine. They created a vineyard well-suited to produce fine wines to reach the world. The initial planting of the vineyard took place in 2002, and the wine production started six years later. T-OINOS wines were introduced in the wine list of Alain Ducasse’s famous restaurants, another evidence of their uniqueness just two years later.

The wines are produced with grapes cultivated in four different vineyards of a 13 hectares total planted area, on a sandy-clay soil with granite bedrock, located on the outskirts of Falatados village, in Stegasta and Rassonas. The indigenous grape varieties cultivated are Malagouzia and Assyrtiko for the white wines, and Mavrotragano and Avgoustiatis for the red ones.

The T-OINOS team has one goal: to highlight the dynamic of each variety as it is expressed through the unique terroir of the region giving emphasis to freshness, minerality and evolution in time.
T-OINOS is another very important reason to visit Tinos island this summer to unfold its mysteries this summer!