The Wine Guide
I have divided this wine guide into several mildly amusing chapters. As always, I selected each wine for its high quality and good pricing. I’ve included over 20 wines in this list, …
Become a Sommelier
Food & Wine Pairing
Food & Wine PairingThe following recipes were created by myself and the pairings by sommelier Alana Zerbe. If you like our food and wine pairings, you can grab a copy of …
Vall Llach 2009 “Idus” Priorat
Wine Review: Vall Llach 2009 “Idus” Priorat On the nose, a giant whiff of wild fennel and fig confit. The palate is bursting with black fruit with sweet vanilla and balsamic. …
The Top BYOB Restaurants in Philly
We need to update this list. Let us know your current favorites in the comments below!BYO culture in Philly is unique among American cities. It came about due to the influence …
Salviano 2012 Orvieto Classico
OrvietoOrvieto used to be huge. I still am surprised when younger sommeliers and students don’t recognize the name. In the ’80s, it was one of those bottles that white zin lovers …
Mainline Times: The Wine School of Philadelphia
Originally published in the Mainline Times.“There’s no pressure here,” instructor Michael Alleruzzo said. “We’re just going to sit back and have fun. We’re going to enjoy some great wines…So I’ll be …
Villa Cafaggio 2006 Cortaccio
This is not my first rodeo with Villa Cafaggio. When I was the national sommelier for Bacchus Selections, I was a huge fan of their Chianti Classico. It was a great …
A Del Frisco’s Sommelier Smackdown
The Sommelier Smackdown is one of our food & wine pairing classes at the Wine School and one that we gain a lot of attention, even sometimes too much. We brought …
Altadonna 2010 Nero d’Avola
Altadonna is a project by the well-known father & son winemaking team of Stefano and Niccoló Chioccioli. Their portfolio is a line of pan-Italian wines sourced from northern to southern Italy. While such …
Food & Wine Pairing Menu
Chef at the Wine SchoolPart of my job running the Wine School is to create the menus for our food & wine pairing classes. That includes our food and wine pairing …
Trimbach 2009 Muscat Reserve
Alsace is the place where sommeliers and grandmothers meet to share a glass of wine. Everyone else, it seems, doesn’t care. That is too bad because the wines from this German-influenced …
Philadelphia Daily News: Get a taste, and degree, for wine
If you don’t know a pinot gris from a pinot noir, resolve this year to become a wine pro.
With the popularity of movies like “Sideways,” a film about love and marriage set in southern California’s Santa Barbara County wine district, as well as increased interest among young professionals who are starting wine clubs and going to tastings, there’s no better time to sip and learn.
Philadelphia Inquirer: The newlywed cellar
Making those choices would be a challenge for even a well-seasoned wine drinker. So I turned to several Philadelphia wine experts for advice – plus specifics on how they would spend that $500 – and discovered a wide range of strategies, styles, and considerations for tackling such a happy conundrum.
The first question each one asked, though, was probably the least sexy: What is the storage situation?
“If wines are not stored in a reasonably cool, dark environment, they’re not going to hold very well,” says Keith Wallace, founder of the Wine School of Philadelphia. “Even two years out, bottles can be compromised.”
Dealing with wine fridges or a genuine basement wine cellar is a project of its own that can easily devour hundreds of dollars. But it’s a necessary evil if you plan to lay an expensive bottle down for a decade or two.
A Service Dog and Her Winemaker
This article is one of the few articles written about Keith’s life before founding the Wine School. It prominently features Rosie, his dog of many years. Sadly, Rosie passed away in …
