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Philadelphia Inquirer: Wine in a box
The story was originally published by the Philadelphia Inquirer on August 25, 2008. The article is reprinted solely for educational purposes. It is intended to offer insight into the history of …
Wall Street Journal: Wine School is in.
The story was originally published by the Wall Street Journal on January 8, 2010. The article is reprinted solely for educational purposes. It is intended to offer insight into the history of …
Old Philly Bitters
That is a Classic Bitters Advertisement One of the best results of the Pre-Prohibition cocktail trend was the re-discovery of bitters. It’s great to see some of the classic bitters being …
Philadelphia Inquirer: The Wine School vs. WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment is going to the mat against the Wine School of Philadelphia. WWE, which trademarked the term Smackdown years ago, is fighting the Wine School’s attempt to register Sommelier Smackdown for its grape-centric competitions.
Last month, WWE law firm K&L Gates sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Fairmount business, which started Sommelier Smackdowns in 2007.”I feel kind of special,” said Keith Wallace. “I am being picked on by Vince McMahon. I better start working out.” In a note to friends, he wrote that he was calling out McMahon and wrestlerChris Jericho to a wine-tasting double-team cage match.
Keith Wallace featured on the 10 Show, again!
Corked & Forked with Keith Wallace on NBC’s the 10! Show.
Decibel Wines
A Philly boy goes to wine school, moves to New Zealand, and becomes a winemaker.Philly’s own Danny Brennan started as a Philly bartender and ended up as a bad-ass winemaker in …
NPR Interview featuring Keith Wallace
Katie Britton of WAMC/NPR interviews Keith Wallace. The interview revolves around Keith’s cookbook, Corked & Forked. It’s a awesome interview and quite long. It was originally supposed to be edited down …
Jet Wine Bar
When I met Jill Weber, she was an archaeologist with a taste for wines from impossible places. Her palate followed her work: into the ancient vineyards of Syria and Turkey, through the ancient …
Direct sales invigorate wine-lovers
Local wine aficionados love to grouse, often with good reason, about how state regulations can sometimes stand between them and that coveted vintage.
But they are divided over whether a favorable decision in a case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court would do much to make more varieties available, or cheaper, in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The court is being asked to decide whether states can limit direct, winery-to-wine-lover sales.
Keith Wallace, president of the Wine School in Philadelphia, had 53 phone messages the day after the Supreme Court heard arguments, and knows that oenophiles are watching the case.
Wallace spends $30,000 a year on wine. He said that recent innovations by the Liquor Control Board mean that “you have an enormous selection available.
“The problem is that the price point is often 10 to 30 percent higher than anywhere else,” he said.
The best-case scenario, he said, would be a Supreme Court decision that dealt a mortal blow to the state-store system.
But the odds are that Pennsylvania’s unique system, criticized for decades but politically resilient, will survive relatively unchanged.
An NPR Interview featuring Keith Wallace on Wine Myths
Michelle Norris of All Things Considered interviews Keith Wallace about wine myths.The story originally aired on All Things Considered (NPR) on December 11, 2009. The article is reprinted solely for educational purposes. It …
Sommeliers: A rare vintage
At the five-year-old Wine School of Philadelphia, located in Fairmount, 60 students are taking sommelier courses, even though director Keith Wallace decries the profession as “the worst position on the face of the earth. At most places, they’re glorified restaurant managers, talked down to and condescended to.”
Beverage managers, responsible for all libations served, make “marginal income,” between $30,000 and $40,000 after long hours, Wallace says, “at the very top, you can make $60,000 to $80,000,” but the hours are punishing. “The wine industry itself is an amazing place to work,” Wallace says. He directs students to industry positions, advertising for a large wine company, importing, running portfolios for distributors all offering the possibility of better pay, travel, nights and weekends off. (Contrary to assumptions, there are import and distribution jobs in Pennsylvania, but only one buyer.)