Wine guy: ex-engineer offers vintage wisdom.

• Author: Taylor, Mike
• Position: Small Biz

CLAUDE ROBBINS WAS SCHOOLED AS AN ARCHITECT AND MECHANICAL ENGINEER, BUT AS far back as his undergraduate days at Kansas State University 30 years ago, he has been as passionate about wines as has been about engineering.

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Six years ago he turned his avocation into his livelihood, selling his architecture/engineering business, co-founding (with wife Sherrie) an educational organization called the International Wine Guild and becoming known as "The Wine Guy" on his own radio show Sundays at 5 p.m. on 560 AM.

If you doubt that mastery of wines can be a complex and never-ending pursuit, you haven't talked or listened to The Wine Guy.

Robbins has taught the White House kitchen staff about wines and wine-food pairings; he has consulted with wine producers in New Zealand, England and even France about what wines they should market in the United States; and he has taught restaurant staffers, such as those at Maggiano's Little Italy, about the art and science of wine selection.

He also is founder of the liquor store Total Beverage in Thornton, which carries about 6,000 wines. (Robbins can't legally own stock in a licensed liquor store in his role as president of the International Wine Guild, so ownership is in his family's name).

To Robbins, enjoying wine is as much in the taster's head as the palate.

"People who first get into wine think it's all about what you drink," says Robbins. "But that's only about half of it. It's a very intellectual pursuit, and it re-invents itself every year."

Robbins created the International Wine Guild in 1998 after noticing that, while some organizations certified sommeliers and other restaurant professionals as wine experts, none provided in-depth education.

Robbins envisioned a...