Artisan Vines trade wine tasting: Arbios and Praxis wines

Recently, at The Artisan Vines wine tasting for the trade, celebrated at The Park Tavern Restaurant in midtown Atlanta it was a pleasure to enjoy a great diversity of wines, mostly from fine boutique wineries. Gail Lawing, president of Artisan Wines Distributing Corp. was very welcoming and available to interact with the public and winery representatives; making for a great wine discoveries event.

Arbios Cellars is a small family-owned winery located in Alexander Valley, Sonoma County, CA.  Susan Arbios owns this winery along with husband Bill Arbios.  " Bill makes the wine and handles the distribution and I do most of the rest.  We are showing our top of the line 2005 Arbios Cabernet Sauvignon and also introducing our Praxis label.  The Praxis wines are priced about half that of the Arbios Cabernet in the hopes that you will enjoy them with every day dinners as well as special occasions,"  Mrs. Arbios adds. 

Bill Arbios is been making wine for over 30 years, most notably as winemaker for Lyeth wines; he launched Arbios label in 1993 and the Praxis line in 2000.  "Unlike his wines from Lyeth, all of our wines are single vineyard, sustainable farmed, 100% of their varietal.  Most are under 14% alcohol," Mrs. Arbios adds.  The idea behind the Praxis label is to play with the expression of the fruit, experimenting with winemaking techniques.  Like varying the grape sources and clones, the fermentation process and the barrel choice. The fruit for the Praxis wines is sourced from all over California in order to maintain quality at a relatively reasonable price.

2005 Arbios Cabernet Sauvignon: This wine is made with 100% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from a single vineyard in Alexander Valley, planted around 2,500 feet in elevation and managed according to winemaker Bill Arbios specifications.  This impressive red has aromas of dark cherry, raspberry, plum, cassis with notes of vanilla, hazelnuts, spice and earth.  It offers generous dark berries, sour cherry and cassis flavors, accented by vanilla, cocoa and oak. This wine is supple with a medium to full body structure. This complex Cabernet Sauvignon has well integrated tannins, balanced fruit/acidity, moderate alcohol and an elegant long finish. This wine is distributed in Atlanta by Artisan Vines and you can find it in your favorite specialty wine retailer for $30.  Pair this wine with red meat dishes, bison, duck accented with red wine reduction or mushrooms and a side of roasted potatoes.  For an after dinner delight try it with a piece of dark chocolate truffle.

2007 Praxis Lagrein:  This wine is 100% Lagrein grape (This is a cool climate red varietal, 300 year old cross between Teroldego and Pinot Noir grapes from the Alto Adige region in Italy.) The fruit for this wine come from a single vineyard in the Central Coast region in California.  The nose in this wine has intense red flowers and ripe red and black berries aromas with accents of earth, vanilla and dark chocolate.  The aroma repeats on the palate adding flavors of cherry, fresh mushrooms and a little spice.  This complex wine is well balanced has pleasant acidity, great structure and a fruit forward medium finish.  This elegant wine will pair well with a wide variety of food: chicken, turkey, pork and some simple red meat dishes.  Try your poultry and meat dishes seasoned with salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, parsley or tarragon with a side of sautéed mushrooms, leeks or yellow squash.  In Atlanta you can find Praxis wines at your favorite wine retailer for $18.