Sommelier Student of the Year!
The Wine School of Philadelphia has named Stacy Wessel, owner of Race Street Café, the 2024 Sommelier Student of the Year. Stacy Wessel, a veteran Philadelphia restaurateur, won the award following …
The War Against Wine
The War Against ScienceTrust in science is at its lowest point in generations. So why is an international health agency willing to further degrade its reputation by loudly espousing moral beliefs …
Who Takes Our Sommelier Courses?
Not to be corny, but our sommelier students are in a class of their own.The Wine School of Philadelphia has always been an outlier in the wine world. We attract a …
What is Zinfandel?
Zinfandel: From Croatian Cliffs to Californian VineyardsZinfandel, or ‘Zin’ as it’s affectionately known, has long been celebrated as America’s grape. Its deep red hues and robust flavors have become synonymous with …
The Five Top Italian Red Wines for $20
Italian Red Wines 101Walk into any wine shop, and you will be confronted with hundreds of Italian red wines, ranging in price from six dollars to hundreds. In this scenario, I …
Sommelier Student of the Year
Michael Kraemer, an Advanced Sommelier student at the Wine School of Philadelphia, has been named the winner of the 2023 Sommelier Student of the Year Award. The award, which recognizes dedication …
Why Sommelier Certifications Matter
Sommelier certifications are increasingly popular with both wine enthusiasts and professionals. Whether you are curious about wine education or looking to advance your wine career, sommelier certifications may be an intelligent …
Sommelier Levels
Sommelier Certification LevelsWe offer the full repertoire of sommelier levels through the National Wine School (NWS). These programs are the same as those offered nationally through NWS and its affiliated schools …
Wine Connoisseur
Want to level up your wine skills and become a wine connoisseur? In this article, we go through the skills you need to be your own sommelier. Buy Like A SommelierGreat …
Seeking Wine Educators
We are seeking our next generation of wine educators in Philadelphia and beyond! If you want to be part of our community, now is the time to act!We are on the …
Wine Tasting 101
Tasting wine fundamentally differs 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 what …
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 …
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 CareerIf you don’t have time to read the entire article, here are the two key links you need:Sommelier 101How Do You Become a Sommelier?A sommelier is …
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
Types of CorkscrewsCorks slowly became the most prominent bottle stoppers during a long three-hundred-year period between 1600 and the early 1900s. And with cork, came many types of corkscrews. With the …
Twenty East Coast Wines that Rival Napa Valley
Recently, I was researching East Coast wines for an online wine class. While researching, it struck me how far we’ve come, even in the last year. So I made it a …
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. …
Columbia Valley Wine
Why does California get all the love when Columbia Valley wine is fantastic? The pat answer is that California has been growing grapes longer, and it’s a core feature in America’s …
All About Rosé
From the palace of King Louis XIV to the vineyards of Pennsylvania, rosé wines have 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 …
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
Introduction to Portuguese WineOnly 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 …
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. High-quality wines are supplanting the preponderance of sweet pink trash. However, the history of these wines is just being written. This article covers what …
Eater Philadelphia Thinks We Have an Amazing Wine Club!
The Wine School of Philadelphia’s catalog of courses are designed to delve into the nuances and complexities of wines from around the world. Its wine club membership is an extension of these offerings, providing subscribers access to exclusive weekly members-only events, founder’s pairing dinners, a bi-weekly newsletter, training workshops, and opportunities to connect with experts in the wine industry.
“The Best Wine and Beer Clubs in Philadelphia” Eater Philadelphia, April 2024
Top Holiday Wines
I want three core elements for any wine: high quality, fairly priced, and small production. I’m the type of wine curmudgeon who doesn’t bother with mass-produced wines but doesn’t want to …
A Note to Our Sommelier Students
Dear Students,I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to share some wonderful news about our Advanced Sommelier program. As many of you know, over the past few years, we’ve …
Schioppettino #3
The effort to save the varietal Schioppettino from extinction can be traced back to the actions of one man, Paulo Rapozzi, and his vineyard Ronchi di Cialla. After the twin threats …
Schioppettino #2
In Janis Robinson’s impressive “Wine Grapes,” she describes 1,400 grape varietals in commercial production. However, the world’s wine shelves are dominated by a mere 20. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Chardonnay have …
Pallagrello
Located at the “shin” of Italy, bordered on the east by the Tyrrhenian Sea and set between the Garigliano River to the north and the Gulf of Policastro to the south, …
Schioppettino
Tucked away in the eastern hills of the Friuli region of Italy is a small valley between the Upper Adriatic Sea and the foothills of the Julian Alps. This area, known …
Coda di Volpe
Coda di Volpe, also called Coda di Volpe Bianca, is a native white wine grape grown in the Campania region of Italy, primarily in Benevento, Avellino, Napoli, and Caserta. With an …
Timorasso #4
Timorasso is a white grape native to Italy and has been growing around the Tortona hills, located at the crossroads of Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, and Liguria, since the Middle Ages. …
Pallagrello Bianco
Italy has a rich winemaking history shaped by politics, culture, tradition, historic events, climate, and evolving wine trends. From the evidence of wineries in Sicily over six thousand years old to …