Barbara Rooks is a consultant in our wine department. She can usually be found at the wine room computer and is the go-to wine person for the passion she brings to research and food matching. Barbara is also responsible for developing much of our wine class curriculum. She started at Schaefers in 2005.

After working in the Jewish community for more than 15 years, and as a regular Schaefer’s customer since first coming to the Chicago area in 1995, Barbara has moved smoothly from one passion to the other. Her prior career also makes her the automatic maven for Kosher wines.

Barbara lives in Evanston with her husband Ben and her dog Baci. They took their first wine tasting class more than 20 years ago while they were still in college, and make annual pilgrimages to wine areas throughout the continent. Previous trips have included multiple visits to both Napa and Sonoma, as well as California’s Central Coast, Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and Ontario’s Niagara-on-the-Lake region. Let her know if you’re planning a trip and would like suggestions of where to go.