Two Rosés from T-Oinos, and the Cheaper One Keeps Pace

Two bottles from the same estate, two price brackets, one score. The Clos Stegasta Rosé 2023, the top rosé from T-Oinos on Tinos, costs around €60 in Greece. The Mavrosé 2025, the house's second rosé, costs around €35 in Greece. In May 2026 both stood side by side in the glass, and in the end the same number stood behind both: 91 points. In direct comparison, the Mavrosé was actually the more supple of the two on the palate. Part of the explanation lies in the vintages.

The Estate and the Plateau

T-Oinos (the name plays on Tinos and the Greek οἶνος, wine) is the prestige project of Alexander Avatangelos and Gérard Margeon: conceived in 1999, planted from 2002, first wines in 2008. Stéphane Derenoncourt has consulted since 2016, and the wines are made by Thanos Georgilas, previously at Opus One and Château Latour. The heart of the estate is Stegasta, a granite plateau at around 470 metres; the name means “roofed over”, after the sheltered old pressing sites in the vineyards. The Meltemi cools the sites by three to four degrees, summer fog acts as sunscreen, and the bush vines are individually tied to stakes so the wind does not flatten them. Traces of winemaking on the island reach back to 4,000 BC, wild goats remain a real nuisance to this day, and the estate dog Markos is listed on the team page as “General Supervisor”. As Tinos has no PDO of its own, the wines are bottled as PGI Cyclades.

Two Rosés in the Glass

The Clos Stegasta Rosé 2023 is a blend of 35% Assyrtiko, 35% Mavrotragano, 20% Avgoustiatis and 10% Malagousia, harvested on 15 September 2023 in the Stegasta, Sparveri and Agios Dimitrios parcels at 400-450 metres, on granite and sandy loam or schist respectively; Clos Stegasta is the name of the top line and of the vineyard from which the line's Assyrtiko and Mavrotragano come, while the rosé, according to the estate, comes from these three vineyards. Direct pressing, fermentation in stainless steel with yeasts from the estate's own vineyards, up to six months on the fine lees, 12% alcohol. Quite herbal on the nose, green apple, altogether relatively restrained. The attack is very forceful, then a strong acidity takes over and the mouthfeel turns crumbly. The hoped-for complexity is missing; little remains on the finish apart from the acidity, just a slight bitter note. The ageing potential of the 2022 is not in evidence here. 92 might perhaps still be defensible, but the cohesive overall impression is lacking: we give it 91 points. We are more critical here than some other critics: James Suckling gave the 2023 94 points in January 2025, praising the scent of roses and lilac, peach and orange peel, as well as the dense mid-palate and the mineral, spicy finish. Simos Georgopoulos (FNL) gave it 8.5 out of 10, highlighting dried jasmine, vanilla and the depth gained from long ageing on the lees and in the bottle.

The Mavrosé 2025 consists of 80% Avgoustiatis and 20% Mavrotragano from the Sparveri and Agios Dimitrios parcels at around 400 metres, granite with sandy loam. Bush vines, 10,000 vines per hectare, 25 hl/ha (this applies to the whole estate). Hand-picked from 8-11 September 2025 in the early morning into 20-kilo crates, direct pressing, stainless steel, own yeasts, around three months on the fine lees, no wood, 13% alcohol, around 2,500 bottles per vintage. The nose is red-fruited and at the same time floral. Pleasant acidity, very good, mouth-coating texture with an impression of sweetness, although the wine is dry. The finish is of medium length, some lemon balm, a touch of green apple, quite mineral, almost metallic; this metallic streak is the only thing that pulls it down slightly. Already drinking superbly, no reason to wait. Here too: 91 points.

What Were These Vintages Like?

One caveat first: there is no dedicated harvest report for Tinos; the vintage values apply to the Cyclades as a whole, and the vineyards at 400-470 metres in the Meltemi are a special site within them. On our vintage scale of 0 to 10, the three years stand as follows:

2023 stands at 6.0. On Tinos it brought the warmest July and August of the entire series since 2000, the least favourable omen for an early-picked, acid-driven wine. That matches the impression in the glass: the acidity was saved (early harvest, only 12% alcohol), while texture and complexity remained thinner.

2025 stands at 8.0, clearly above 2023. Cooler than the extremely warm 2024, the warmest growing season of the series, when harvest already took place on 21-24 August; in 2025 the harvest did not begin until 8-11 September, two to three weeks later. Compared with the average since 2000, however, 2025 was still somewhat on the warmer side. It was the wettest growing year on Tinos since 2000, around 136 mm of rain from April to October against the usual roughly 57 mm. The month before the harvest nevertheless remained dry.

And 2022, the first vintage of the Clos Stegasta Rosé, stands at 9.0, the strongest white wine value for the Cyclades in this period: one of the cooler summers of the series, plus around 11 mm of rain in the 30 days before the harvest, where it often stays bone dry. Exactly the constellation that preserves acidity and aroma in a rosé. And indeed, we already had the Clos Stegasta Rosé 2022 in the glass at a restaurant in 2024, paired with salmon, and it won us over completely back then, showing what the Clos Stegasta Rosé is fundamentally capable of: cherry on the not overly aromatic nose, wonderful on the palate, superb acidity and minerality, long aftertaste, explicit ageing potential. 94+, to this day the highest rosé rating in our records, even if structurally not quite as multi-layered as the Silphium from La Tour Melas (94).

The Mavrosé had the distinctly better year and was young and fresh at the time of tasting, while the Clos Stegasta 2023 came out of the hottest summer of the series. That may explain part of the tie. The 2022 shows what this wine can do in a good year, and that is exactly why the question of price is justified for the 2023.

Conclusion

Anyone wanting to drink a rosé from T-Oinos now should take the Mavrosé: for around €35 you get a wine at the level of its big brother, and currently the more harmonious one on the palate. The Clos Stegasta Rosé is worth getting to know, but with an eye on the vintage; 2022 showed how far this wine can reach.

Anyone who would like to receive our tastings directly in future can sign up for the newsletter here.