Marshall Kirksey moves through the Classic Winesellers’ rows of reds and whites with confidence, busying himself slightly turning individual bottles so that their labels face front and center while he cradles the phone against his left ear.

Feet sound on the wooden steps leading from the Church Street sidewalk outside down into the store’s front room, and Kirksey turns his head to watch through a small cut out pass through in the wall. Unfamiliar shoppers carrying handfuls of bags wander into the main wine storeroom, feet shuffling quietly, eyes sweeping widely.

“Hello, can I help you find anything,” Kirksey asks, powering off the cordless phone he keeps at his side and stepping forward.

“No, no, just browsing,” the shoppers say.

Kirksey sits down at one of the small wooden tables in the Winesellers’ tasting room, racks of North Carolina, Australian and Spanish wines at his back. Legs cross, left hand to his chin, he thinks.

“OK where was I? My top five wines ... Oh, an eighty ... five ... Mouton Rothschild. It was a Bordeaux. Put that at number two,” he says.

Born in Carroll County, Tenn., Kirksey, 27, picked up his interest in fine wines from his father, who after a trip out to California’s Napa Valley, began collecting.

“He just tasted one that he really liked,” Kirksey said.

At the time Kirksey was 12, but — in the name of education — was allowed to taste the various bottles his father purchased, a collection that has now grown to include between 500 and 750 bottles.

“And I was drinking good stuff, he had good taste,” Kirksey said.

A love for wine wasn’t all Kirksey learned from his father. A pianists and singer, Kirksey’s father encouraged him to get involved with music. Kirksey went onto major in voice in college. Meanwhile, finally of legal drinking age, he began going to wine shops, tasting and learning about wine from a customer’s point of view.

In 1999, a summer horticulture job brought him to Lake Junaluska.

“I liked working outside and I didn’t want to go back to the school that I was going to,” Kirksey said.

He stayed at Lake Junaluska until 2002, then looking for an out, he contacted the Classic Winesellers’ owner Richard Miller to ask for a job. The response — we’re not hiring now, but call me back later.

Kirksey pulled another semester in college, but finally called it quits, earning mixed reviews from his parents.

“They weren’t the most happy, but I hadn’t exactly been burning it up at school,” Kirksey said.

He called Miller back and in spring of 2003 was hired on to be the house wine seller.

Although he was well versed in certain areas, such as the California- or Australia-based wine, in other areas, Kirksey found himself lacking. Spanish, French and German wines eluded him. So he began studying. The writings of Jancis Robinson, available online at www.jancisrobinson.com, and The Wine Bible by Karen MacNeil, director of the wine program at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley, California, provided an informational basis. But the best education he found came from just being around wine.

“The best thing you can do is go to tastings, join a wine club, just sample different bottles, go out on a limb and try something new,” Kirksey said.

After two years amongst the Winesellers’ cabs and rieslings, pinots and merlots, Kirksey signed up for his first level training classes to work toward becoming a master sommelier — a.k.a wine guru. Tryon Distributing, based in Charlotte, had booked the training sessions privately for their own employees, but left a few slots open for select customers.

“So I jumped on it,” Kirksey said.

The classes included blind taste tests to determine wines’ region and varietal — and un-graded portion — and written exams covering wine production, classification systems and regionality. And while a blind taste test to determine not just what kind of wine, but from what country, what region and maybe even what town within that region may seem like an insurmountable task to some, others can train their taste buds to recognize infused flavors.

“It’s almost like tasting the earth,” Kirksey said.

Kirksey passed his test, becoming a certified sommelier, not just a guy who knows a lot about wine. The test, however, is only one of three required to become a master sommelier. Level two included blind taste tests that are graded and more extensive written exams. The test has only a 20-percent pass rate. Level three includes a full table presentation, graded down to one’s pouring technique. The test has only a 3-percent pass rate.

“I definitely think I’ll go for the second level,” Kirksey said.

But the training has already paid off. While some people may tend to focus on only one type of wine, one variety of grape, one region, a wine education opens opportunities for exploration.

“It gives you an idea of other regions, other possibilities for the grape you maybe haven’t considered,” Kirksey said.

This knowledge is something Kirksey enjoys passing on to customers — whether they come in with a description of a wine they once had and are looking to match, or just need something suitable for a gift.

“You can walk in and say I need a bottle of wine to take to a dinner party or something and I only want to spend this amount, and he’s wonderful about making a recommendation,” said Kerry Finn, a Wineseller customer and Maggie Valley-based real estate agent. “He’s open to all different kinds of wine and all price points of wine and wine from different countries. He’s not in the least bit snobby about it. You feel completely comfortable asking his advice.”

And with the medical profession encouraging a glass of red a day, Kirksey is proof that a little is good for the heart and soul.

“I’ve never seen the guy in a bad mood,” Finn said.