I very nearly walked out without ordering.

Not because the place wasn't friendly – it's actually very friendly. Not because the room wasn't attractive – it is quite appealing inside and out.

No, after glancing at the menu, I was concerned that there wasn't enough food to warrant a restaurant review. For a brief moment, I practically panicked.

And yet, I am glad I listened to that little voice in my head telling me to stay put. For this is the second of four installments on wine bars, an increasingly popular take on the traditional bistro or cafe.

Some, like last week's visit to The Chef's Table, emphasize the cooking and have a tightly focused list of wines.

Overall: 4 stars
Service: 4 stars
Ambience: 3 stars
Food: 3 stars
Value: 4 stars

This time it's Back Wine Bar, which has an excellent, thoughtfully conceived and mildly eclectic wine list with a tighter focus on the food – several salads, a steak sandwich to die for, mini pizzas three ways and the peppery deliciousness of ahi with rice.

Not only did I stay and order, and eat and drink, but I couldn't wait to return.

In short, Back Wine Bar may be one of the finest businesses of its kind I have ever visited.

This is also an opportunity to explain our reviewing and rating system. If you notice the rating box, this place has earned four stars. Yet I am not saying you will get the same experience as that at The Firehouse, The Waterboy or Hawks, some of the area's premier fine dining restaurants. Back Wine Bar is judged on what it proposes to be and how well it lives up to that.

When they opened in a Folsom shopping center just over a year ago, the husband-and-wife team of Jeff and Gail Back knew precisely what they wanted to create: a casual, friendly neighborhood wine bar offering selections from small wineries and avoiding those from the big ones everyone already knows. They wanted customers to feel like family and friends, hoping they would want to settle in as regulars. Think "Cheers" with stemware.

They would emphasize personal service. And most challenging of all, they wanted to talk about wine – and teach about wine – without laying it on too thick or coming on too strong.

Gail is the outgoing one. When I watched her in action, she lit up the room, smiling, saying hello, giving a hug here and there.

Jeff, who is educated as a sommelier, has exactly the right touch. He's soft-spoken, smart, modest, sincere. And he believes in his wines.

He tastes probably 20 to 30 wines to find one he will carry. He looks for complexity and balance, and he seeks out value, whether that's a $3 glass of "house white" or a $120 bottle of Livingston Moffet Cabernet Sauvignon (2004).

Here's a guy with encyclopedic knowledge of wine – the terroir, the notes, the nose, the fermentation process, the good and not-so-good years, the pairings with food – and he wishes more people would ask more questions.

Wine is about pleasure, about inspiring your senses. You should like what you are tasting. If you want to pursue that, ask yourself why you like it. Zero in on the qualities you appreciate, the flavors you detect, the way the wine smells, how it feels in your mouth.

Even if you're not a wine geek but part of the majority of casual wine enthusiasts – those who like what they like and don't what they don't – think of Jeff as an asset to enhance your enjoyment. Use him. Ask him. He's ready.

Unbeknownst to him, we had already asked, and we were very happy with the detailed answers. With my "Heavy Hitter" flight of three reds ($23), Jeff went through each and explained the different characteristics. For example, the third wine, a cabernet sauvignon and syrah blend from Bacio Davino in Napa Valley, he noted how "the syrah fills out the mid-palate so it feels more complete, but the wine is still young and coming together. You get the classic cab plus the big cherry fruit."

Turning to the food, which is executed adeptly by sous chef Eric Johnson, it's fun to order a few things and ask for guidance to bring out the best in the wines on his list.

I asked Jeff for some suggestions, beginning with the superb Hawaiian ahi poke ($13) with chili-soy and served with sticky rice. We enjoyed not only the flavors but the contrasting textures of silky (the ahi), crunchy (the crushed macadamias) and chewy (the rice).

Jeff said he had the perfect wine for the dish and had just put it on his list, a 2008 pinot noir rosé from August Kesseler.

"It is an unbelievable wine from Germany. You always want to pair a spicy dish with a little bit of sweetness or apparent sweetness. It balances each other out," he said.

Along those lines, I had picked a riesling, which it turns out is Jeff's favorite grape variety.

The steak sandwich ($10) was superb. There's a lot going on – all of it good. Spicy red pepper sauce, mildly sweet caramelized onions, melted brie that's decadent in its creaminess. Jeff laughed when I asked about a wine choice, and said "pretty much anything" because there were so many flavor components to the sandwich.

When I told him I would lean toward a shiraz, he agreed (I hope he wasn't just being nice) and said he had an especially good one that he just put on the list, by Dutschke Wines of Australia.

"It's got a ton of fruit, a little spiciness and it's aged perfectly," he said.

I've already come to trust his wine smarts. On each visit, I bought a bottle to take home (out the door is $15 off the wine bar price).

He and his wife are living their dream, executing their plan and, to the delight of those who visit, making all the right moves.

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Call The Bee's Blair Anthony Robertson, (916) 321-1099.