Wine 101 – Local expert has introduced Baton Rouge to unique varieties for decades

When Sara and John Murphy and their friend Betty Schroeder wanted to learn more about wine, they did what hundreds of Baton Rougeans have donethey enrolled in one of Steve Staples’ tasting seminars.

Staples, a longtime wine sales consultant and the nephew of former Baton Rouge restaurateur Jake Staples, has been teaching LSU Leisure Classes on wine in The Chimes Restaurant Wine Cellar for about 30 years.

The Murphys and Schroeder are food and wine lovers who have traveled extensively. They’ve taken three of Staples’ classes, including his introductory class, The Taste of Wine, and sessions on Italian wines and wines of the Southern Hemisphere.

“The classes allow you to taste a variety of wines and make up your own mind about what you like,” says Sara Murphy. “For the amount of wines you get to sample, it’s a good value.”

Staples teaches two classes every spring and fall semester downstairs at The Chimes, with each class lasting five weeks. He discusses the characteristics of various varietals as students sample each one. Participants leave with new recommendations about what they like and what they want to serve at home.

“I think it’s important that people try things and figure out what they want to drink,” says Staples. “It’s not up to me, and it shouldn’t be based on wine ratings in a magazine.”

This month, Staples will teach his The Taste of Wine primer and Wines of Italy. He says his intent is to give students exposure to diverse wines they probably wouldn’t have found themselves, including more selections of the same varietal.

“We might do a couple of different Chardonnays, for example, so that you can see the difference between one that’s oaked and one that’s not,” he says.

Staples was attending LSU in the late ’70s and working part-time at his uncle’s restaurant, Jake’s The Place, when he first delved into wine. The community’s wine knowledgeand his ownwas minimal then. There wasn’t much beyond Blue Nun and Gallo jug wine on restaurant menus and in grocery stores, he says.

Staples’ uncle let him have free rein over developing a new wine program at The Place, and the restaurant soon earned accolades for its wines, he says. He worked closely with the wine distributor, and after graduating with a degree in fine art from LSU, Staples entered a career in wine sales. Shortly after, he began teaching the LSU Leisure Classes on wine.

Matherne’s Highland Road Supermarket Manager Bill Hounshell says that Staples has played an important part in expanding wine awareness in Baton Rouge.

“I remember 19 years ago we had just opened our store on Highland, and we had two four-foot sections of wine,” recalls Hounshell. “We were looking for a niche in the market and decided wine was it. Big problem: None of us even drank wine.”

Hounshell says Bologna Brothers distributors connected him with Staples, who was one of their sales reps. “I took two series of his classes,” Hounshell says. “The rest is history.”

Hounshell used what he learned to begin transforming Matherne’s scant wine department into one of the largest and most popular wine outlets in the city. The store is also known for its regular on-site wine dinners by reservation.

Murphy adds that Staples’ classes allow students to stay current with wine trends.

“For Southern Hemisphere, for example, we tasted a lot of South African wines, which are some of the best value out there,” she says. “[The classes] were always a little ahead of the curve.”

Classes are held in the Wine Cellar in The Chimes Restaurant at Highland Road and Chimes Street. Registration fee is $79 for non-members, plus a $75 materials fee. unionweb.lsu.edu