Summer Wine School
Spending your summer in the Italian Riviera, then this isn’t for you. Vacationing in Rioja? Stay put. Touring Sonoma with a winemaker friend? Don’t change your plans. Everyone else, pay attention! …
Become a Sommelier
Five Wines You Need to Know to Avoid Sounding Like a Moron
You’re new to wine, and you don’t want to sound like a moron. Totally understandable. I’m going to outline the five wines you need to know to avoid sounding like a …
Resurrecting the Forgotten: 16 Grape Varietals Brought Back from the Brink
For much of the 20th century, winemaking centered on a narrow handful of grape varietals. The rest—hundreds of lesser-known grapes—were largely ignored, dismissed, or ripped from the ground entirely. Phylloxera, war, …
One Question That Stumps the Best Sommeliers
At After Wine School, we believe in making wine approachable for everyone. Each episode, we dive into the world of wine without the pretension, focusing instead on its joys, quirks, and …
Wine on a Budget: Five Hot Spots
Wine is about grapes, and grapes are about real estate. It’s not that different than renting an apartment. You get more home for your money in Port Richmond than in Rittenhouse. …
What Sommeliers Get Wrong About Wine
Over the past three decades, we have been working to push sommeliers out of the restaurant and into the broader world of wine. And we have been exceptionally successful! With the …
Find Your Inner Sommelier
Free Wine Education!Are you a cork dork who dreams of being a wine geek? Learning about wine comes in many forms, and plenty of free resources exist. There are some excellent …
The High Price of Restaurant Wine, Explained.
Ever wonder why wine is so damn expensive at a restaurant? Ever notice that the cost is at least triple what you pay at a wine shop? Does this feel like …
The Dark Arts of Wine Marketing: Behind the Scenes of Rosé’s Rise
The world of wine marketing is often shrouded in mystery, with strategies as intricate as a well-aged Bordeaux. On a recent episode of After School: The Wine Podcast (listen to the …
Thought Leaders in the Wine Scene
By Geoffrey CainAs an author, sommelier, and former journalist, I’ve carved out an unusual niche in the world of wine: I turn my fellow sommeliers and winemakers into thought leaders. Books, …
Last-Minute Wine Gifts!
A Wine School Essential A Coravin! I’ve been using my Coravin system for years and consider it essential for events, especially when I want to offer members a taste of a …
Wine Aroma Kits
I’ve used scent training for our sommelier training for decades. It’s a core part of our programming. I hadn’t planned on ever developing scent kits until 2020. I started by creating …
Sommelier Student of the Year 2024!
The Wine School of Philadelphia has named Stacy Wessel, owner of Race Street Café, the 2024 Sommelier Student of the Year. Stacy Wessel, a veteran Philadelphia restaurateur, won the award following …
Who Takes Our Sommelier Courses?
Not to be corny, but our sommelier students are in a class of their own.The Wine School of Philadelphia has always been an outlier in the wine world. We attract a …
Top Gift Wines
I want three core elements for any wine: high quality, fairly priced, and small production. I’m the type of wine curmudgeon who doesn’t bother with mass-produced wines but doesn’t want to …
A Note to Our Sommelier Students
Dear Students,I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to share some wonderful news about our Advanced Sommelier program. As many of you know, over the past few years, we’ve …