Media & Press Reports on the Wine School of Philadelphia

Los Angeles Times: Rasslers ready to stomp on wine snoots

Vince McMahon doesn’t want anyone thinking his wrestling superstars are a bunch of wine-tasting wimps.
McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. has told the American Wine Foundation, owner of the Wine School of Philadelphia with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, that it is infringing on its copyright by calling one of its wine classes “Sommelier Smackdown.” As any WWE fan knows, “Smackdown” is the name of one of its most popular franchises.
In a letter to the Wine School of Philadelphia, the WWE told the wine sippers that its use of the word “smackdown” is “likely to create consumer confusion as to WWE’s affiliation, sponsorship and/or approval” of the class. Yes, because we all know how similar wine snobs are to wrestling fanatics.

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 …

Cave des Onze Communes Cornalin 2017 scaled

Philly Uncorked: Junk Food

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.

Philly Uncorked: Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Frontpage Hero for Wine School of Philadelphia

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 …

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Philly Uncorked: Chardonnay

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 …

Philly Uncorked: Bargain White Wines

The European tradition of mulled wine started in ancient Greece.

My friends in Great Britain insist no holiday can be merry without mulled wine. But why should the Brits have all the fun?

The European tradition of mulling wine started in ancient Greece where heat and spices were used to salvage old wine once the summer’s harvest went bad. In the Middle Ages, mulled wine was credited with medicinal and aphrodisiac powers (what serf wouldn’t love to snuggle up with a hot toddy), and in Victorian England a spot of tea was added to a glass of mulled wine and dubbed “Christmas tea.”

In the United States, nearly everyone cites eggnog as our most typical holiday libation. Historically this creamy holiday tradition has beat out mulled wine due to the availability of milk and eggs from our plentiful farms, as well as the rum that’s been an affordable U.S. import from the Caribbean.

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.)