BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:

If Roger Richards ever had any doubt that he loves wine, he dispelled that possibility after opening the Wine Lab Newport three weeks ago.

The co-founder of the wine bar, which resides in the spot on West Coast Highway that formerly housed Great Legs Wine, has added more than 40 selections to his burgeoning racks — and he’s tasted many, many more. Richards, a lifelong oenophile, makes it a point to personally sample and spit every bottle of wine that arrives at his store, and that usually runs to about 60 a week.

“I think the palate recovers over time,” said Richards, who doesn’t rely on bread or water to refresh his taste buds between swishes.

The Wine Lab was a pet project for Richards, a software engineer, and his wife, ChrisAnn, who runs a public relations and marketing company. The Huntington Beach couple took over the space Jan. 11 and went to work renovating it, putting in new racks and stocking the bar with domestic and international wines.

The bar is open five days a week and offers tasting during all hours. The owners experiment Wednesday and Thursday, and let customers try a variety of wines, but Friday through Sunday, they offer “flights,” or menus of about half a dozen samples grouped by theme or region. To accompany the wines, the bar offers nuts and crackers, and is scheduled to install an open-air cheese display case this week.

More than anything, ChrisAnn said, the Wine Lab sought to provide wines local connoisseurs couldn’t find anywhere else.

“You won’t find them in a Trader Joe’s or a Costco, anything like that,” she said. “Our opinion is that everyone’s taste is different and you need to taste wine before you buy wine.”

Already the Wine Lab has a series of events planned for the next two months to broaden customers’ palettes. Delphine Lasserre, a French wine ambassador for Palm Bay Imports, plans to host a tasting for red wines from Burgundy, Rhone and other regions of France Feb. 10. Three days later, Costa Mesa winemakers Jeff Dobkin and Julie Thompson-Dobkin are scheduled to pour their newest releases. Lasserre, whose company is based in New York, said she expected a solid turnout because of the Wine Lab’s prominent location in a busily trafficked area.

“There’s a lot of people who pass the front,” she said. “So I’m pretty sure we’ll get a nice crowd.”

LOCATION: 2901 W. Coast Hwy., Suite 100, Newport Beach

HOURS: 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 4 to 9 p.m. Friday, 2 to 9 p.m. Saturday, 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday

SPECIALTY: Wine tasting and sales

CONTACT: (949) 515-8466

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at [email protected].