Courier-Post Goes Back to Wine School

Robin Shreeves’ July 21, 2017 article, “It’s back to (wine) school time,” published in the Courier-Post.

A little about this article:

Wine writer Robin Shreeves described herself as a perpetual student, so when the opportunity arose to return to the classroom, she chose the Wine School of Philadelphia.

Shreeves was preparing to take the school’s Accelerated Intermediate Wine Course, a six-night program culminating in a Level 3 sommelier certification exam. She had no intention of working as a restaurant sommelier. What she wanted was the knowledge and sensory ability that came with the training.

Founder Keith Wallace told her that was precisely the point.

“Learning about what you love means you understand it more,” he said. Wine education, he explained, trains senses most people have never been taught to use deliberately. As students learn to recognize aromas, flavors and structure, their perception of wine changes dramatically.

Shreeves also spoke with Sean Comninos, winemaker at Heritage Vineyards in New Jersey and a Wine School graduate. Comninos said his studies helped steer him toward winemaking and praised Wallace as a demanding teacher: “You certainly have to know your stuff in order to pass his course.”

Heritage, he added, regularly sent tasting-room employees to the Wine School because the training gave them a reference point for understanding classic grape varieties and high-quality wines.

Shreeves also cited Somm.us, which at the time gave the school a 94% rating and described it as the top wine school on the East Coast and one of the top two in the country, with “college-level programming.”

For Shreeves, the appeal was not about learning to prefer expensive bottles. Wallace argued that education did the opposite: it helped students recognize authenticity, value and quality regardless of price.

Her conclusion was simple: Philadelphia had something unusual — a serious, brick-and-mortar wine school where professionals and enthusiasts could study wine at a genuinely high level.