Eye on St. Paul Q&A: Owner of Solo Vino wine shop on Selby Avenue, Chuck Kanski

Thirty seconds after you meet Chuck Kanski, you know he was born to run a wine shop. The self-described "wine geek" can break down the seeming complexities of how to pick the right wine into extremely easy-to-follow steps as simply as if he were teaching the alphabet to a kindergarten student. And, boy, does he like to talk — rapidly, excitedly, enthusiastically. Infectiously.

But unless you ask, you might not know that this East Sider put himself through Hill-Murray High School by working mornings and evenings at Arby's. That he played a season of college football at St. John's University in Collegeville. That once he dreamed of learning nuclear propulsion in the Navy. That his wine journey began as a 22-year-old working nights at the airport Hilton in Bloomington.

Kanski's path to Solo Vino, the wine shop he owns on Selby Avenue, traverses a who's who of St. Paul fine dining establishments past and present, from W.A. Frost and The University Club to The Vintage and Pazzaluna.

But it all started when Kanski started working in that hotel's formal dining room, specifically after he was asked to help work with the restaurant's wine suppliers, and he learned that they were willing to give him free bottles to try.

"That first night, it was like a bank of lights went off," Kanski said. "From that moment, I knew my life was wine."

In a recent interview with Eye On St. Paul, Kanski talked about his shop — 20 years old on Halloween — and how his goal in starting Solo Vino was to create "an environment where the novice and neophyte, the connoisseur and collector all felt welcome."

This interview was edited for length.

A: We speak to wine like a food group. Twenty years ago when I opened up the shop, wine was grouped with liquor and beer. It was alcohol ... but in Europe, wine is a food category. So a good way to think about wine is to see what wines from a certain country go with the foods from that country. For some reason, people look at wine as if it's this unattainable beverage and it's too hard to learn enough to appreciate it. And that's where I tell people, "You're wrong."

Q: But how do you break it down for those of us who know little more than red goes with meat and white goes with fish?

A: You can go down the rabbit hole if you want. Red wine is the second most complicated liquid on the planet with more than 1,000 chemicals. The only liquid that is more complex than red wine is blood. ... There are 1,382 grapes we make wine from. But really, 80% of wine is made from 20 grapes. Now, I can say to you, "Let's look at the 10 red and the 10 white that are most common." Let's whet your palate. After that, if you want, let's go down the rabbit hole.

Q: You say that the key to selling wine is building relationships with your customers. How does that work?

A: I remember the first sale I made in the neighborhood. I had these index cards with five to seven questions I would read to customers. I started to read those questions to Shirley, my first customer. I got to question four, and she grabs my elbow and says: "You're cute. But all I want is a damn bottle of white wine."

A: My next question was "Fantastic. Are you going to drink it on its own or with food?"

Q: So, you still ask questions. Isn't that a lot of work to sell a $10 bottle of wine?

A: There are a lot of things people might be looking for: price, an everyday wine, special events, the weekend. What a good wine geek does is we listen for those cues. When you come in, everything on those shelves is available for purchase. My job is to whittle it down."

My goal is to respect the fact that you work hard for your money. A lot of the problems within the wine trade is telling you what I think you should like. I don't do that. I listen to you.

And then I suggest to you something that I think you could like.