POULSBO — It’s been a year since the Benson brothers decided to close the doors of their popular Benson’s restaurant.

But Jeff Benson said the moment he signed the papers, he knew exactly what he wanted to do — open a wine store.

“My favorite part of the restaurant was the wine,” he commented. “I was a total novice before we opened the restaurant and I just had to dive into it head first and learn as much as I could.”

Benson, who owned Benson’s for nearly six years with his brother Steve, opened Olympic Wine Brokers, Inc. in January in the Poulsbo Village shopping center. Through the tiny storefront, Benson offers more than 250 selections of reds, whites, sparkling wines, ports and dessert wines. But more important than selection, Benson stocks his shelves with wines that are as unique as they are drinkable.

“Every so often, you drink a bottle of wine and it slaps you in the face and it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh. That’s what a good bottle of wine is,’” Benson said.

Originally from Connecticut, Benson lived in a handful of locations, including 20 years in Santa Barbara, Calif., before moving to Poulsbo. He first came to the area visiting his parents, who relocated to North Kitsap in the 1980s, and eventually decided to call it home as well. Benson said he always felt a small, personable wine store was needed in Poulsbo. Though he admitted he can “talk someone’s ear off” about wine, Benson said many of his customers have said they enjoy the atmosphere he’s created.

“I hear from so many people who come here that they go to a big grocery store and there’s this huge wall of wine and there’s nobody there to talk to,” Benson recounted. “They like talking to someone and getting recommendations.”

Though he has no formal training in wine, Benson said he has a much more important background — real life experience. Working at Benson’s, he had to taste a lot of wines and work with a lot of distributors to figure out which wines were worth it. Now, he blends that experience into a shop where he hand picks what he considers the best offerings and encourages customers to buy something different each visit.

“I try to get people to try new things — don’t just get the same thing you always get,” Benson said.

And the nature of the store’s stock lends itself well to that philosophy. Some of the smaller wineries that supply to Benson have runs of as small as 300, which means there aren’t many of the same bottles anywhere in the world.

“I think that’s neat, too,” Benson commented. “You get a little exclusiveness.”

Two walls of Olympic Wine Brokers are lined with wine racks from floor to nearly shoulder-high, offering row upon row of vintage treats. One of the two walls is stocked with an ever-growing, ever-changing stock of offerings from small Washington wineries. Benson said the idea came to him after sampling some amazing glasses on a trip to the Walla Walla wine country.

“I wanted that to be my niche, to have one of the most unique collections of Washington wines around,” Benson said.

The second and larger wall of the store represents the best of wines from around the globe. But whether they’re from just down the road or half a world away, Benson said his offerings have one thing in common.

“I tried to find the most affordable wines that were great and got good scores because I like a good deal and I know customers do, too,” Benson commented.

And if customers don’t see what they want, Benson has a network of about 15 distributors at his disposal for special orders of beer or wine. So far, many of his orders in this category have been from customers who tasted a wine on a cruise ship, vacation or other location and have been unable to find it locally. With a bit of research, Benson’s usually able to find the right bottle.

“I enjoy that,” he commented. “It’s a lot of fun.”

From noon to 4 p.m. weekends, Benson also has informal wine tastings with customers at the shop where he will open up a couple of new bottles of wine for people to try. He hopes to someday offer other events at the shop such as Wine 101 workshops.