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Wine Reviews by Keith Wallace

Great Wines Available in Philadelphia and Beyond

Over two thousand wine reviews! While most of our reviews focus on great wines under $20, we also offer reviews of luxury and collectible wines. As we are located in Philadelphia, most  wines reviewed here are available via PLCB Wine & Spirits Shops in Pennsylvania. Our main reviewer is Keith Wallace, the executive director and founder of the Wine School of Philadelphia.  

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Rotie Cellars 2011 “Southern Blend” Red, Walla Walla (WA)

Impolite, brash, and barely keeping it together. The hot mess that is Rotie Cellars is the greatest thing in wine that I have seen in awhile. We all know the aristocratic wines of Napa and Bordeaux. Plus, too many folks in the wine trade covet the idea of uppercrust...
The Full Review

Lagar de Bezana 2011 “Aluvion” Gran Reserva, Rapel Valley (Chile)

A beautiful wine with dense smoke and incense aromas. It’s lushly textured with deep soft tannins and flavors that pool into creme de cassis and ocean air. The finish is long with saturated fruit and asian spices. A few other thoughts: When I teach at the Wine...
The Full Review

Castellani 2013 “San Michele” Valpolicella Classico Ripasso

Some call this style a “Baby Amarone” which is kinda like comparing a ribeye steak to a cheesesteak. Sure they come from the same place, and they both are damn delicious, but that’s where the similarities end. If you aren’t sure what an Amarone...
The Full Review

Castelli del Grevepesa 2011 “Clemente VII” Chianti Classico

This Tuscan co-op winery is making a habit of featuring its wines in the Chairman’s Selection. I am not complaining. The 2010 Chianti was amazing and their super tuscan was a great buy, too. If anything, the 2011 is even better. This is an old school style of...
The Full Review

Bodega Ovidio Garcia 2009 “Esencia” Crianza, Cigales

Cigales is located between two two of my favorite Spanish wine regions: Ribera del Duero and Toro.  That is probably why this is the first Cigales wine review I have written  in 15 years. I’ll try to do better, because these wines offer great value for...
The Full Review

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The Wine School Blog

This is where we feature all our favorite things.  Great wines, top sommeliers, awesome winemakers, great articles,  and charity events at the Wine School. If we really love it, or we think you should know about it, it’s going to be right here.

Selections from our Wine Cellar

A few wine reviews from our archives. 

Wine School Offers Summer Wine Suggestions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wine School Announces Summer Wine Tasting Suggestions July 2009, Philadelphia. To desire wine is to throw oneself into a lifelong adventure that will never be fully satisfied. And The Wine School – with it’s no frills and down-to-earth manner – has been providing wine tastings...
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Villa Mora 2007 Sagrantino di Montefalco

With a grape as rare and wonderful as Sagrantino, a wine drinker may want to know a little more about its history. It’s been growing in a corner of Umbria for more than a century. It may have been brought into the region by ancient Greeks millennium ago, or possibly, it was a more modern crossing of a few...
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Los Boldos 2008 Amalia, Cachapoal Valley, Chile

Vina Los Boldos is an old winery at the foot of the Andes Mountains dating back to 1850. In 1990 the Massanez family from France purchased the property, turned it into a boutique winery, and hired winemaker Stephane Geneste from Chablis. Since then, the wines have been exceptional, although a bit impossible to...
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Shiraz-A-Thon, 12/11/08

Eastern Australia Brothers in Arms 2002, Langhorne Creek Tahbilk 2006 “Revolution”, McLaren Vale Western Australia Cape Mentelle 2004, Margaret River Pannell Family 2004 “Picardy”, Pemberton Blends I Rutherglen Estates 2004 Shiraz-Petit Sirah, Victoria Yalumba 2002 Shiraz-Viognier,...
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Hecht & Bannier 2010 Cotes du Roussillon Villages

This wine sports an inky hue with a perfume of dark fruit and orchid flowing easily out of the glass. The ripeness of the fruit is layered and soft as velvet.  Allspice and iron ore push into the mid-palate that soon opens into a bouquet fresh flowers. Olive tapenade and a seaside breeze add a layer of tension...
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