Clos Stegasta, The Great White Wine of the Cyclades

In his recent article at the French financial magazine Challenges (No 616 – Vins d’ été 2019), Gerard Muteaud refers to T-OINOS:

“Clos Stegasta, The Great White Wine of the Cyclades

Thanks to the will of Alexandre Avatangelo of T-OINOS estate, this island of the Cyclades has reconnected with the culture of the vine.

Μichalis is a quiet person. A silent happy. He would have never betted that one day a compatriot would come to revive viticulture in Tinos, a Cycladic island planted 45 minutes by boat from Mykonos.

Alexandre Avatangelos, a cosmopolitan businessman, launched this challenge in 2002. Originally from Corfu, he had his first experience in Santorini, famous for its whites. Wine was produced in Tinos, long known for its green marble quarries, in ancient times and in the Middle Ages during the Venetian occupation of the island.  The cultivation of vine disappeared later as, like in many other places around the world, it did not meet production criteria. It needed the spirit of insanity of a man accustomed to invert defeats for it to be reborn. Alexander saw the huge potential, betting on a place full of energy, a granite circus of 8 hectares dotted with huge blocks swept by the wind at 460 meters above sea level. In this sandy soil, he planted vines in franc de pied, that is to say ungrafted, from a selection of Assyrtiko variety. The best advantage for making the purest wine. The first vintage of Clos Stegasta was released in 2008. But it is only from 2017 that the wine took all its dimension under the guidance of Stéphane Derenoncourt, a man who avoids labeling and loves, like him, the adventure.

The cuvee rare wins all specialists’ votes today. The wine, with a vertical minerality, impresses by its freshness and its precision. As if it translates the energy of the place where it was born. Alexandre also produces a rare red (mavrotragano grape variety), exceptional for his youth and complexity, on the terraces of Rassonas. The vineyard is cultivated biodynamically, as in all the estate, and the yields are low. And it is up to Michalis Tzanoulinos, born on the island, to take care daily of this vineyard placed under the protection of Dionysos and the virgin of Tinos.”