Back to the Future: Axios

Axios Cabernet Sauvignon

by Tom Hyland, tnapawine@aol.com

Even with the struggling economy these days, there is no shortage of ”cult’ Cabernet Sauvignons from Napa Valley. Many of these wines have a lot in common, with the most usual trait being that they are super-ripe, oaky and, over-the-top. In other words, these are not wines that will be celebrated for their finesse.

A new bottling recently passed through our offices, however, and it made us sit up and take notice. It is called Axios and it displays rich fruit and wonderful concentration with toned down oak and moderate alcohol levels. In other words, it is a wine that showcases the wonderful purity of Napa Cabernet in a balanced package—ta wine that made us remember fondly some of the great Napa Cabs that were produced before the advent of show wines and the cult of ”physiological ripeness’ that seems to have resulted in an oak and alcohol arms race. Could Axios be at the vanguard of a trend back to winemaking sanity in California?

It is, after all, a $100-plus bottle that is under 14-percent alcohol and doesn÷t even have 100% new oak. Who would buy such a thing these days? Lots of people it would seem as the first vintage sold out in a flash and the second is just about gone as well. Perhaps we are not the only ones that have grown tired of over-the-top, formulaic, me-too show wines.

The force behind Axios is Gus Kalaris, the owner of Constantine Wines, a fine wine distributor on the East Coast. Kalaris boasts one of the best collections of Napa Cabernets to sell, including Harlan, Dunn and Pahlmeyer, to name a few. Having made frequent trips to Napa and getting to know the principals behind these estates, Kalaris admitted he ”got the bug’ and decided he would produce a high-end Napa Cabernet Sauvignon.

He produced his first wine from the 1999 vintage, releasing a total of 375 cases (750 six-packs) at a cost of $125 a bottle and sold out in one months÷ time! Great writeups in the press helped out and the current 2000--with a production of 550 cases--is enjoying similar sales success.

Kalaris sources his grapes from two vineyards in prime Napa Cabernet territory; one in the Eastern Rutherford Hills and another at a higher elevation near the Howell Mountain appellation. He recruited the well-respected Robert Egelhoff as his winemaker. Egelhoff, whom Kalaris came to know from his days as winemaker at Merryvale, is currently a consulting winemaker for six other clients, with the best-known being David Arthur Vineyards.

Kalaris wanted to make sure that his wine would stand out from the crowd, so he sought balance in the wine. ”We took a restraint to oak,’ he states. Even with 70% new oak for 23 months, Kalaris achieved his goal. ”I don÷t want to over-oak, as I want true balance with soft-grained tannins.’

What is most impressive about the wine is the flavor profile. There is plenty of ripe blackcurrant fruit, but is does not lean toward the jammy, plummy end of the spectrum. Most prominent is the subtle herbal presence, with notes of oregano, tobacco and oak. While this has the forward fruit of a Napa wine, the rest of the wine could be mistaken for one of the finest offerings from Graves.

The wine is sold via the website (www.axioswine.com) and in a few major markets such as Chicago, New York, California, and Virginia with Massachusetts set to come aboard soon. He plans to top out production at 1,500 cases, as he really doesn÷t want to make more than that. His reaction so far to his early success? ”I÷m pleased, I÷m really jazzed with how far we÷ve come so quickly.’

Understated—tjust like the wine.

The Washington Post

Local Boy Makes Good

By Ben Giliberti


It's often been said that the way to make a small fortune in the wine business is to start with a large one. An old joke, certainly, but one that also holds a substantial kernel of truth. If you want to start up or buy a respectable winery in Napa or Bordeaux to make Chateau Giliberti or whatever, you'd best be prepared to come up with $10 million to $20 million cash on the barrique -- and lots more wouldn't hurt.

Still, we dream. And why not? If you own a winery, you put poetry in a bottle, to paraphrase Robert Louis Stevenson. Your winery cave is a refuge of peace and tranquillity, filled with the woody aroma of fresh oak barrels and the heady perfume of evaporating wine (called, poetically enough, the "angel's share," representing precious production lost to evaporation as wines age in barrel). Owning a winery, even a small one, confers instant membership in an exclusive club populated by folks named Rothschild, Mondavi, Antinori, Comte de Vogue (the most perfect name, I think), among others. Plus, you never run out of wine.

Washingtonian Gus Kalaris had a vision much like the rest of us. Amazingly, despite less-than-Bill-Gates's levels of pocket change to throw at his dream (about $500,000 invested so far), he appears to have succeeded. This month, the first bottles his new Napa Valley Cabernet, called Axios, will arrive in Washington and elsewhere around the country. The wine is outstanding and will sell for a hefty $125 per bottle.

So, if he can do it, there must be hope for the rest of us dreamers too, no?

Well, maybe.

It is true that Kalaris has produced a superb wine on his first vintage, right out of the starting gate. That part surely fits the dream. But you may be surprised to discover is how little the rest of the Axios story resembles the romantic dream scenario most of us imagine.

Let's start with the fact that Kalaris owns neither a winery nor a single gnarled old vine. That means no polo matches with the Rothschilds. No subterranean hideaway. No entertaining on the chateau veranda overlooking rolling vineyards. And not even that much free wine.

What Kalaris does own is Constantine Wines, a wine distributor in Columbia, Md. After more than a decade of handling other people's wines, he decided that it was high time he put his personal stamp on a product. The result was Axios.

"In Greek, Axios means 'worthy,' " explained Kalaris, who is of Greek descent and proud of his Hellenic roots. "There are lots of good wines out there, and lots of expensive ones. I decided early on that I would only go ahead if I could make a wine that proved itself 'worthy' by raising the quality bar," he said.

Owning a respected wholesale house proved a key to reaching his goal. Affable, outgoing and a true devotee of Napa Valley Cabernets, he had made many friends among the winemakers and vineyard owners of the valley. At a time when good grapes from choice vineyards are often unavailable at any price, having friends in the right places can be more valuable than a macho bankroll.

The pivotal moment in the saga came with his choice of Robert Egelhoff as winemaker. Although not yet a "celebrity" winemaker, Egelhoff ranks with the best in the business, having made landmark wines at the David Arthur, Richard Partridge, Pahlmeyer and Merryvale wineries over the years. Through his many personal associations, Egelhoff was able to give Kalaris two things he sorely lacked -- a place to make wine and a source of top-quality grapes.

The first proved relatively easy. Kalaris leases space at Amizetta Winery in St. Helena, Calif., one of many excellent wineries that has excess capacity available for lease. For the grapes, Egelhoff was able to secure top-quality Cabernet from Rutherford's Sacrashe vineyard, a neat trick that only an insider would be able to pull off.

Once underway, Kalaris, who does not fancy himself a winemaker, issued but one edict to his vigneron -- do whatever is best for the wine, cost no object. Egelhoff took it from there, supervising all aspects of the harvest and the winemaking, in consultation with Kalaris.

The rest is in the glass. The 1999 Axios is superb, intense and firm, with tender cassis and black cherry flavors. Of today's cult wines, it reminds me the most of Harlan Estate, in that it combines powerful fruit with a silky mouth-feel, making it almost irresistible to drink now, even though a wine this superior deserves to be cellared.

We shall save for another time the discussion of whether the world really needs another $125 Cabernet, however good it may be. For now, suffice it to say that Axios has, indeed, proven itself worthy.