Torosidis – Viticulturist 2025

The label on this wine does not say what is in the bottle. The Viticulturist from Torosidis is single-varietal Malagouzia, 100 percent, yet the variety may not be named on the bottle. The vineyard lies in the settlement of Peteinos in Thrace, around five kilometres from the town of Xanthi in northeastern Greece. Administratively, Peteinos belongs to the municipality of Avdira, but it lies outside the PGI Avdira. Its zone covers only the former municipal districts of Avdira, Mandra, Myrodato and Mangana, and only up to 300 metres in altitude. Without a protected origin, the wine is certified as a varietal wine. For this category, a joint ministerial decree of 2015, the ΚΥΑ 5066/117288/2015, prohibits the naming of certain varieties on single-varietal wines. Among them are Malagouzia and Vidiano, as well as Xinomavro, Assyrtiko and Moschofilero. For blends of two or three varieties, naming is permitted. The result is a Malagouzia that is not allowed to be called Malagouzia. The front of the bottle simply reads "Organic White Dry Wine". The alcohol is at 12.5 percent.

Behind the wine stands Efstathios "Stathis" Torosidis. From 2003 to 2013 it was all about pilot cultivation and experimentation. In 2013 he planted the first vine in Peteinos, and from 2017 to 2019 Malagouzia, Limnio, Syrah and Vidiano were added. In 2020 the first bottle was filled, a blend of Malagouzia and Chardonnay. Since 2021 wine has been made professionally. According to the estate, the site was chosen not for altitude or proximity to the sea, but because of the family's origins. The estate itself describes the terroir as different from that of classic Avdira. At the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Torosidis wrote a thesis in 2010/11 on how the nitrogen supply of vines can be assessed using chlorophyll meters.

The operation, which by its own account is extremely small, does not have its own cellar. Vinification takes place at a partner winery in the region, according to the producer at the Anatolikos Winery. Fermentation and maturation are carried out exclusively in stainless steel tank, without any wood. Technical data sheets are deliberately not provided because, as Torosidis says, he is still in a phase of experimentation and constant trial. The organic certification was completed in 2023. The 2022, the earliest documented vintage of this wine, still came from a vineyard in conversion. The name suits this model. "Viticulturist" means winegrower, and the producer places the sentence "Behind every wine there is always a winegrower" at its centre. The focus is thus on the winegrower, not the oenologist. The label carries a fingerprint as its motif, which I read as the signature of precisely this winegrower.

I tasted the Viticulturist on 16 August 2026, around a year after the harvest, as a sample from the producer. It was the first wine from this estate I had ever had in my glass. It was followed by the Cuvée Malagouzia Vidiano Chardonnay 2024, the red Syrah Vidiano 2023 and the two rosés, Limnio Malagouzia 2023 and Limnio Syrah 2024. I did not have the single-varietal Vidiano 2025 in my glass until October.

On the nose it is truly astonishing; I would never have thought of a Malagouzia here. It is nutty, with lots of quince and a hint of solvent, which to me, however, is still thoroughly tasty. On the palate it shows an interesting texture that oscillates between slightly oily and a rather coarse tannin. In the structural framework there is, I find, a small gap, but the aftertaste is then once again very long. Added to that is an acidity good for Malagouzia, which makes the wine mouth-watering. It has incredible drive and is so incredibly racy. It is funky, yet at the same time super compatible for people who are otherwise sensitive to that. It is not easy to drink, but exciting and really delicious. Blind, I would actually have guessed a mature wine from the Jura, and that for a wine that has seen no oak barrel and is just a year old.

As the first wine of the estate, it became my benchmark for the rest. The Cuvée Malagouzia Vidiano Chardonnay was golden in the glass and distinctly more coloured than it, less funky on the nose. The Vidiano shares the solvent and quince with it, but does not keep up with the charm of the other two whites. The Limnio Malagouzia Rosé, in turn, lacked what most of the estate's wines have and what the Viticulturist possesses in high measure, namely proper drive.

This is one of the most interesting Malagouzia wines I have had in recent years, a fascinating Malagouzia experiment with much character of its own. How it will age I can hardly predict. Among Torosidis's three whites it comes out ahead, before the Cuvée Malagouzia Vidiano Chardonnay with 91 and the Vidiano with 90 points. The rosés reached 89 points for the Limnio Syrah and 88 for the Limnio Malagouzia. Only the Syrah Vidiano 2023 lay above it. The Malagouzia 2025 from Manolesakis, same variety, same vintage, I noted at 92 points. The Viticulturist costs around 9 euros in Greece. For me these are 93 points.