Upcoming Sommelier & Winemaking Courses
Eat it, New York! The top-ranked wine school in America is in Philadelphia. So if you are a wine lover and want to expand your passion, or even earn your sommelier …
The Trade Secrets Behind the Wine School
Our Core Wine Course has earned an unparalleled reputation across America. A surprisingly large number of students say the program is a singular, life-changing experience for them.Over the years, many schools …
Wine Tasting 101
Tasting wine is fundamentally different from drinking wine: Wine tasting aims to form an appreciation for the wine and its components. This intrinsically precludes overindulging. If you do, you’ll never remember …
Getting Started in Wine
Wine is a great hobby; it’s an even better career. Getting started in wine is the best idea you will ever have. At least, it was for me! The wine trade …
Cabernet Sauvignon, Explained
Take a look at a list of the best-scored wines globally; browse the web for the most expensive reds in the market, or browse the top-shelf section of your local wine …
What is Wine?
What is wine? Why do I do this to myself? Why do I ask sommeliers this question? Invariably, I get one of the following three answers. Each time, a tiny part …
What is Zinfandel?
All About Zinfandel (Zin)What is Zinfandel? Zin was considered the all-American grape for decades, an ultimate California wine. But there was always a mystery as to where it originated from. Starting …
Know Your Wine Bottle
Wine bottles are based on centuries of traditions. The wine trade is deeply indebted to those traditions. Even the largest multinational wine corporation (talking to you, Gallo) won’t mess this those …
Wine Glass Recommendations
Unless you are planning to guzzle directly from the bottle, investing in wine glasses may be a good idea. Sure, you could use those little water glasses leftover from college. Or …
Wines for Beginners
For those of us in the wine trade, it’s hard to remember what it felt like to be a beginner. The nerves. The uncertainty. The fear of being judged. Being new …
10 Tips For Food and Wine Pairings
Eating what you like with a glass of your favorite wine is a great idea; eating should be a singular pleasure. But food and wine pairings are not a solitary affair. …
How to Become a Sommelier
How to Start your Wine CareerThere are five simple steps to start a career in wine. We will repeat these steps at least two times to give you an idea of …
Understanding Tannin
Writers Don’t Understand Tannin.When I was a winemaker in California, the very first question a customer asked me was, “What is Tannin?” So many times, the question was posed when I …
The Greatest Wine Regions of the World
The world of wine is at your fingertips. Here at the Wine School, many of our sommelier programs are founded on the idea the core of wine knowledge is understanding wine …
Wine Business 101
The wine business has unique traits without parallel in other markets. Wine is an agricultural product, but it’s also a lifestyle commodity; wine bottles are collectible items in some cases. In …
The Seven Types of Corkscrews
Corks slowly became the most prominent bottle stoppers during a long three-hundred-year period between 1600 and the early 1900s. With the cork becoming a standard closure, wine lovers developed several cork-pulling …
Twenty East Coast Wines that Rival Napa Valley
Recently, I was researching East Coast wines for an online wine class. While doing research, it struck me how far we’ve come, even in the last year. So I made it …
Winemaking 101
Welcome to Winemaking 101! We have been making wine for ten thousand years. For much of that time, winemaking has played an outsized role in our lives. It has been an …
Sommelier Courses in America
The world of wine is lovely. Sommelier courses open opportunities in all sectors, from the hospitality industry to retail, education to marketing, and distribution to production. Wine jobs are not only …
Best Wineries Near Philadelphia
Stuck at home and need some wine? Want to support a local winery? Several students in our online wine classes asked us for this list, and here is our list of …
Great Israeli Wine
Wine has been produced in this region for thousands of years. However, the modern wine industry started only in the late 1800s with the help of Baron Edmond James de Rothschild, …
Sicilian Wine
If the idea of waking up to a sage-scented ocean breeze sounds alluring, what about sipping coffee in an ancient fruit orchard while looking out over the crystal-blue Mediterranean? The Sicilian …
French Wine Regions
History of French WineFrance’s history with wine dates back to the 6th century BC, when the city-state of Massalia (modern-day Marseille) began trading wines with other Mediterranean cultures. But, Viticulturally speaking, …
Buying Wine Online
This was an easy list to write! I buy wine online for my job, over $100K worth every year for the Wine School of Philadelphia and the National Wine School. Here …
The Eight Major Beer Styles in America
Did you know there are over 6,000 craft breweries in the United States alone? And the phenomenon is global. People want good beer; artisanal, hand-crafted beers made with love and not …
Sommelier’s Guide to Champagne
Champagne!Every person in every corner of the world knows about Champagne. But did you know they didn’t invent sparkling wine? That was the British. They didn’t even make the first bubbles …
Wine Reviews: The Essential Guide
As long as there’s been wine, there’s been wine reviews. In Roman times, Pliny the Elder was very adept at identifying the best wines in the empire. A good review from …
Terroir of East Coast Wines
Specialists Vs GeneralistsBack in the day, if you wanted to be a winemaker, there were two career trajectories. You could either become a generalist or become a specialist. That meant either …
What Is A Wine Expert? And How to Become One!
Anyone can become a wine expert. You can do this with a decent work ethic and a little support. Wine is not rocket science. You can become a winemaker or master …
Wine Tasting at Home
Spend a few minutes listening to a sommelier speak about wine, and they will soon have you dazzled with their talk of aromas and bouquets, unknown wine valleys, and silky tannins.It …
All About Rosé Wine
From the palace of King Louis XIV to the vineyards of Pennsylvania, rosé wine has always been a part of wine drinking culture. This article offers the essentials of what it …
Italian Food and Wine Pairing
Italian food is beloved everywhere. Because of that, you will see sommeliers pairing Italian dishes with wine from nearly every country globally. For example, a good Chilean Sauvignon Blanc will match …
Getting a Job in Wine
Want to work in the wine industry? Discover your dream job and how to get it! The wine industry is a big place with career options to suit your biggest dreams: …
Italian Wine Regions
Italy has a rich history with wine, dating back thousands of years. That all began to unravel in the first half of the 20th Century. Wars and political misadventures turned the …
Swiss Wines
The people of Switzerland have so much love for their wine that they only export a small portion of it. The question is whether this is by design or lack of …
Eleven Wine Blogs to Follow
The wine industry wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t for some of the fantastic wine blogs we have access to today. Whether to inform us about serious wine matters or relate …
Spanish Wine Regions
It is no secret that Spain has a lush terroir, bringing us the world’s most exciting cultivars and high-quality wine. As a result, Spain is now known for being one of the …
What is a Sommelier?
Becoming a sommelier is a goal for many wine lovers, prodded on by the many “SOMM” movies and tv shows. It is now a career imbued with glamor and intrigue. Is …
Portuguese Wine Regions
Only in the last few years has the wine-drinking public realized there is more to Portuguese wines than Port and Madeira. This was primarily due to the ubiquitousness of cheap and …
History of Wine
From as early as Biblical times, the idea of wine has been mentioned numerous times – and for thousands of years, wine has been used for ritual, religious, and even health …
Beaujolais
Beaujolais is a convivial region of Burgundy with a refocused attention to style. It is a place where light-hearted wines and creativity are allowed to thrive. Although nouveau is a popular …
Wine Ratings 101
How Wine Ratings Came to BeWine ratings are both standardized and controversial. The ratings are often subject to individual preferences and tastes. However, they are also a systematic way to rank …
Cellaring Wine
Let’s start with a basic idea: what is a wine cellar? It’s a room designed to store wine over a very long period. That’s all the room does. You shove a …
Austrian Wine
Austria is well known for Mozart, Schnitzel, Sacher torte, and The Sound of Music, but are you aware of its viticulture? During the 19th century, Austria’s wine industry boomed, but many …
Italian Wine Pairings
An Italian Sommelier’s Guide to Italian Wine PairingsItalian Wine Pairings from the NorthItaly is a country of diversity, and it’s hard to make generalizations. This is especially true when considering the …
The Top BYOB Restaurants in Philly
BYO culture in Philly is unique among American cities. It came about due to the influence of the PLCB and high rent in Center City’s restaurant district. For most chefs, the …
Pennsylvania Wines
PA wines are slowly finding their footing. The preponderance of sweet pink trash is being supplanted by high-quality wines. The history of these wines is just being written. This article covers …
Our Wine Club is now a Full-Fledged Membership Program
Want to be part of a vibrant wine community? Welcome home. Back in the day, we charged $19/month for our wine club and offered a single monthly event. Over the years, …
Contino 2016 Rioja Reserva
If you’ve read my reviews of previous vintages (here and here), then you know the deep respect I have for this storied winery. This is the last bottling of Contino by …
Belhara 2019 Estate Malbec Mendoza
Belhara is a small estate in the Uco Valley district of Mendoza that has been producing very polished wines over the past few years. This bottling is an excellent example of …
Le Vigne Winery 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles
Le Vigne is just north of the city of Paso Robles, below the western hills. They have a half dozen varietals planted on their small property, including Tannat and Sangiovese, it’s …
Domaine Vincent Carême 2019 “Spring” Vouvray
A small winery in the Loire Valley, headed by Vincent Careme, teaches Organic Winemaking at the local university. This wine is a perfect infusion of racy citrus with steely intensity. A …
Herencia Altes 2016 Garnacha Peluda, Terra Alta
Peluda is a crazy variant of Grenache. The translation is “Hairy Grenache” and that is quite apt: the leaves are a bit hairy on the underside, which is kinda gross when …
Lua Cheia em Vinhas Velhas 2019 Douro
The rough translation of this brand is “Full Moon over Old Vines,” which is pretty apt for their wines. They aren’t a winery but a project of entrepreneur Manuel Dias and …
Chateau Courac 2018 Cotes du Rhone Villages Laudun
For frugal lovers of Chateauneuf du Pape, the town of Laudun has become a gold mine. It’s a tiny Rhone village that was recently upgraded in status; it’s biting at the …
CVNE 2019 “Bela” Ribera del Duero
This bottling is a brand new project from CVNE, the legendary Rioja winery. Bela is a single vineyard in the town of Villalba de Duero. While CVNE is known for classical …
Cafaggio 2016 Chianti Classico Riserva
The world’s love of Tuscany is all-encompassing, but I think that blinds us to nuance. So while we dive head-first into our love affair, perhaps a more critical eye may be …
Te Mata 2019 Estate Vineyards Syrah, Hawke’s Bay
New Zealand’s South Island is well-established for its Sauvignon Blancs and Pinot Noirs. However, the North Island is still forging its identity as a fine wine producer. Of note, Hawke’s Bay …
Ram’s Gate 2017 Chardonnay Sonoma Coast
Great wine often turns millionaires into, well, less wealthy millionaires. This is one of those stories. The owners of Ram’s Gate spent seven million on building the winery, only to discover …
Upcoming Wine Tastings Classes
New Zealand & Australia WinesTired of illustrations of Kangaroos and Kiwis? Yeah, me too. Why is it that wine cultures get reduced to their worst moments? The truth is that New …
Fattoria Le Pupille 2019 Morellino di Scansano
A quick Italian wine lesson: When you see an Italian wine labeled as “Blah Blah” di “Blah Blah,” it always means “This Grape” from “This Place.” The phrase Morellino di Scansano …