Azios Cellars

Santa Barbara County region

A Garagiste winery focused on Santa Barbara County Vineyard designate wines.

Azios Cellars a "garagiste" winery in Santa Barbara, California, focused on vineyard designate wines from the Santa Barbara County AVA wine region. Azios Cellars small batch, extremely limited bottlings are hard-to-find and have very limited distribution.

It seems to be the best way to tell the story about Azios Cellars is to quote Nico Azios, the founder, winemaker and owner.

“I came to winemaking a bit later in life than I would've liked. But life's got a funny way of getting you to where you need to be, eventually. I lived a previous life as a breast cancer researcher (slash phytochemist) and found myself publishing research articles about the effects of red wine compounds on cancer cell biochemistry (all the while becoming more and more interested in the wine part, rather than the cancer part). I saw the marriage of art and science in winemaking, and I wanted to be a part of that: that alchemy, an ancient craft, a trade for a lifetime of learning and experimenting.

I have a PhD in Plant Biology and have been passionate about plants my whole life. So the concept that "the wine is made in the vineyard" is integral to my philosophy in winemaking. I tied up the loose ends of my cancer research at UT-Austin and began my new schooling as a vineyard researcher and winery lab tech at Flat Creek Estates in the Texas Hill Country. From there... vineyard work at Cosimo Massini in Tuscany... cellar hand to enologist to assistant winemaker at Gainey Vineyard in Santa Ynez, Ca. harvest stint at Waterford Estate in Stellenbosch, South Africa. “ - Nico Azios

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