The Tomos Wines from Panagiotopoulos, and the Best One Sits at the Bottom

In June 2026, five red wines from Trifilia stood side by side in the glass: the three wines of the Tomos series from the Panagiotopoulos winery, their predecessor, the Cabernet Sauvignon Bio 2010, and, as a neighbourhood comparison, the equally old Anny's Animus Merlot 2014 from the Tsolis winery. The youngest of these wines was twelve years old, the oldest sixteen, and not one of them was tired. That alone is remarkable for a region that hardly anyone has on the map internationally. Even more remarkable is what the tasting did to the house's own ranking: the officially lowest of the three Tomos wines, the Syrah, was by far the best. Anyone buying according to the house hierarchy would have got it wrong here.

Trifilia, the Neglected West Coast

The protected geographical indication Trifilia has existed since 1989 and lies in the northwest of Messinia, in the southwest of the Peloponnese, with municipalities such as Kyparissia, Filiatra, Gargalianoi, Aetos, Avlona, Dorio, Eira, Nestor and Tripyla. The zone has a long tradition with French red varieties: permitted grapes include Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Syrah, Grenache Rouge, Carignan, Tempranillo and Agiorgitiko, and the region's grapes also supply many wineries outside the zone. The climate of Messinia is favourably influenced by the winds of the Ionian Sea, with mild winters and long, warm summers; in the west, rainfall comes mainly in winter and early spring.

Pyrgos Trifylias sits at around 400 metres of altitude on the road between Chora and Gargalianoi, surrounded by hills full of olive trees and vines. Here, in the Pachimari area, Dimitris Panagiotopoulos planted his first vines, Cabernet Sauvignon, in 1982, long before his own winery was completed in 2005. He had previously worked at another estate and wanted to make his own wines “according to his choice and conviction”; by his own account, he studied the dynamics of his soils to find the right varieties. Today the estate farms 15 hectares, exclusively organically, with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Chardonnay, plus Malagousia, Assyrtiko and Agiorgitiko; harvest runs from the beginning of September to mid-October.

The Tsolis winery is based in neighbouring Gargalianoi. Konstantinos Tsolis started in 1993 with Cabernet vines he had already planted in the eighties; winemaking has been in the hands of Phillipos Koukis since 1999. The two Merlots in this tasting thus come from immediate neighbours. The west coast of the Peloponnese is very much neglected internationally, and this tasting shows how much potential lies there.

Four Tiers Without a Definition

The estate sorts its entire range on its own website into four tiers, which it names itself and explains nowhere: “Extreme Value Wines”, “Premium Wines”, “Super Premium Wines”, “Ultra Premium Wines”. Among the reds, the Faces Red sits at the bottom as Extreme Value. Next, as Premium, come Stony Lane Red, Cube Agiorgitiko, the conventional Merlot and, read this carefully, the Tomos III Syrah. Super Premium are the conventional Cabernet Sauvignon, the Tomos I Cabernet Sauvignon and the Tomos II Merlot. At the very top, as the sole Ultra Premium, reigns the “36”, according to the estate 36 months in new oak barrels, “from our best vineyard plots, produced only in the best years”.

This classification does not stand up to closer scrutiny. The Tomos III sits on the same tier as the house's simple, conventional Merlot and one tier below the conventional Cabernet. The conventional Cabernet, in turn, shares its tier with the Tomos I, even though the latter is the certified-organic single vineyard with 24 months of barrel ageing and just 6,900 bottles. Tomos II (a good 8,200 bottles) and Tomos III (a good 8,500 bottles) have almost the same production run and the same ageing regime, yet end up in different tiers. The whole thing looks like a ranking of grape varieties: Cabernet on top, Merlot in the middle, Syrah at the bottom, regardless of what is in the bottle. The market sees it differently. The “Premium” Syrah retails at €40-60, its “Super Premium” siblings sit at around €24 (Tomos I) and €20-30 (Tomos II).

The name adds to the confusion. “Tomos” (Greek τόμος) means volume, as in a book volume, and the numbers I, II, III sound like a ranking but merely denote the grape variety. The lines are of different ages: the organic Cabernet has existed since 2000, the organic Merlot since 2003, the Syrah since 2006. The series has only carried the name “Tomos” since the 2013 vintage; the 2010 Cabernet was still simply labelled “Cabernet Sauvignon Bio”. Two of our older notes fit the picture: the Agiorgitiko Cube 2015, now listed as Premium, received 90 points from us and cost just €6.80 at the cellar door. The Malagousia 2020, now listed as Super Premium, came to 83 points. A system worthy of the name looks different.

Three Vintages, Three Stories

There is no dedicated harvest report for Trifilia itself; our vintage ratings therefore sketch the framework for the western Peloponnese, not a verdict on the zone itself. On our scale of 0 to 10, 2013 stands at 8.0 for the Ionian west and south (Greece and Peloponnese each 7.5), 2010 at 6.0 across the board and 2014 at 5.5 across the board. The climate figures, by contrast, apply precisely to Pyrgos Trifylias at 400 metres:

• July/August, mean of daily maxima: 30.7 °C (2010), 31.0 °C (2013), 29.5 °C (2014), 2000-2025 average 30.7 °C

• Days at 35 °C or more: 3 (2010), 0 (2013), 0 (2014), 2000-2025 average 3.2

• Rain 20 August to 15 October: 56 mm (2010), 56 mm (2013), 43 mm (2014), 2000-2025 average 69 mm

• October rain: 161 mm (2010), 44 mm (2013), 65 mm (2014), 2000-2025 average 68 mm

Locally, 2013 was one of the warmest growing seasons since 2000, the fifth warmest of 26, but without a single day above 35 °C and with a dry September: exactly the situation in which late red varieties ripen slowly and fully, without heat stress. 2014 was one of the coolest growing seasons in the series, the fourth coolest of 26, likewise without a single hot day: a cool year with a wet spring and a dry summer. March brought around 104 mm against a norm of 67 mm, and spring (March to May) was above average; from May on it turned dry, and summer and harvest time stayed dry. Harvest reports from other parts of the Peloponnese note rain and disease pressure for 2014; in spring that had a basis here too, and what Trifilia was spared was the wet autumn of those zones. In the end, the risk for late reds lay in a lack of warmth: not because it never rained, but because the rain fell early and the ripening phase stayed cool. 2010 was unremarkably warm, but October brought around 161 mm, more than double the norm, putting pressure on anything still hanging outside.

The harvest dates fit the picture. The Tomos I Cabernet came into the cellar on 20 September 2013, with the preceding 30 days a good quarter drier than usual. The Syrah followed on 25 September, likewise after a run-up a good quarter drier than usual, with daily maxima in the two weeks before exactly at the average. The Tomos II Merlot was picked on 10 September 2014, early, into a cool late summer whose immediate run-up was distinctly wetter than normal and a good degree cooler. There was no heavy rain before any of the three harvests.

What follows from this? The best wine of the tasting comes from the best vintage, the least exciting from the weakest, cool year. That is an observation across five wines, not proof. The Cabernet 2013 came from the same good year as the Syrah and stayed at 90 points, and the Tsolis Merlot from the same cool 2014 reached 91. Variety and winemaker decided more here than the vintage did. The estate's ranking explained the least.

Two Cabernets, Sixteen and Thirteen Years Old

The Cabernet Sauvignon Bio 2010 stands in the founding line of the house and is built for long ageing like few other Greek representatives of the variety: 24 months in French oak, then more than ten years of bottle ageing in the winery cellar before the 12,000 bottles were even released. Simos Georgopoulos already found it fresher, more tannic and less evolved than the equally old conventional sister bottling back in 2018, giving it at least five more years; in 2024, at fourteen years of age, the wine still took gold at the Sakura Awards in Japan. In the glass it showed plenty of appealing toffee, some eucalyptus, only a little forest floor. The attack still brought plenty of red fruit and good acidity, then cocoa-like tannin, although flavour and tannin flatten out relatively quickly; the structure is somewhat lacking towards the back, so the acidity fizzles a little too. The alcohol remains unobtrusive at 14%, and the finish holds on quite long. We give it **90** points, and it should stay at this level until 2031. Retail around €25-30.

The Tomos I 2013, the heir to exactly this line under a new name, comes from a single certified-organic vineyard, 24 months in 225-litre French oak barrels, 13.5% vol., just 6,900 bottles, retailing at around €24. On the nose, still plenty of blackcurrant, very true to the variety. On the palate a somewhat flat attack, not especially dense in colour either, but astonishingly drinkable for a thirteen-year-old wine: plenty of drive, positively supple, a light Cabernet despite the oak ageing. The finish stays rather short, at least for a wine of this quality level. We give it **90** points, perhaps 91 with a little goodwill. It is at its peak; anyone who has it can open it without hesitation.

Merlot Versus Merlot, Pachimari Versus Gargalianoi

The Tomos II 2014, the limited, oak-driven Merlot version of the series (first organic Merlot vintage: 2003), was hand-picked on 10 September 2014, 24 months in French oak, 14.5% vol., a good 8,200 bottles, retailing at €20-30. The wine is still very, very fresh, no question. After a rather fruit-driven nose, however, it is simply too soft on the palate; there is little tension, little variety to make it exciting. **89** points, which it should hold for a long time yet. In a few years it will thereby sit ahead of a great many other Greek 2014 Merlots, hardly any of which come through time this fresh.

How much that tension is missing was shown by the equally old Anny's Animus from neighbouring Gargalianoi, a single-varietal Merlot from PGI Trifilia, 13.5% vol., according to the back label aged 18 months in oak barrel and then 24 months in bottle, around €26. The poetic back label tells the wine's story like a person's: born in Trifilia, raised in an oak barrel, come to rest in the bottle, with a soul, hence the name Animus; the label artwork is by the painter Eleni Michalakopoulou. Already on the nose it was clearly superior to the Tomos II, not quite as fresh, but more intense, with appealing plum notes. On the palate an acidity that lifts the wine again and again; it does not carry throughout, but it keeps resurfacing, and a fair amount of fruit remains on the finish too. A really well-made, well-matured Merlot at its peak: **91** points. Precisely because it is so good, it should be drunk within the next five years; there is something to lose here. How Greek Merlot fares in the international field generally is something we have described elsewhere.

The Third Volume

The Tomos III 2013 (first Syrah vintage: 2006) is technically not one bit more simply built than its siblings: a single-varietal Syrah from a certified-organic vineyard, hand-picked, in the cellar on 25 September, 24 months in 225-litre French oak barrels, 13.5% vol., a good 8,500 bottles, retailing at €40-60. Very fruity on the nose, still plenty of blueberry, plus a little dark chocolate and a small touch of balsamic. On the palate, unlike the Cabernet with its grippier, even longer-lived tannins, it has more fruit throughout, and towards the back an animating, fruity acidity emerges once more. Only the second wave of the finish could be a little better. Of the three Tomos wines, this Syrah is by far the best; it need not hide from its higher-ranked siblings in any way. A truly great wine, **93+** points. It should only reach its peak in about five years, and a good fifteen more years of ageing can be expected of it. That Greek Syrah can be astonishingly age-worthy has been shown more than once; this one belongs in that line.

Longevity Without a System

What connects the five wines is not a tier and not a label, it is the time they withstand. The 2010 was only released after more than a decade in the winery cellar and still took gold in Japan at fourteen. The Tomos I stands astonishingly drinkable at its peak at thirteen and carries a drinking window until 2036. The Tomos II is still very, very fresh and should likewise hold its points until 2036. The Tomos III still has its peak ahead of it, drinking window until 2041. Even the Anny's Animus, the only one where haste is advised, will hold until about 2031. Twelve to sixteen-year-old red wines from a zone hardly anyone knows, and not one of them collapsing: that is Trifilia's calling card. The division into Premium, Super Premium and Ultra Premium says nothing about it; in the glass, at this tasting, it was simply turned on its head.

Recommendation

Anyone looking to buy should buy the Tomos III Syrah and lay it down; its peak is still to come, and of all five it has the longest life ahead of it. The Anny's Animus should be sourced and drunk within the next five years, as it is at its very best right now. Tomos I and the Cabernet Sauvignon Bio 2010 can be opened without hesitation; both have arrived at their level and will hold it for a while. The Tomos II is the wine for the patient, for those who want one of the few still-fresh Greek 2014 Merlots in their cellar in a few years. As for the tiers on the website, do not waste a single thought on them.

Anyone who would like future comparative tastings and vintage assessments of Greek wine delivered straight to their inbox can sign up for the newsletter here.