Wine Review Newsletter
Wine reviews and all things vino from Keith Wallace
Wine Reviews & The Wine Report
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 wine shops in Pennsylvania. Our main reviewer is Keith Wallace, the executive director and founder of the Wine School of Philadelphia.
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Moniker 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendocino County
This is the last vintage of this wine, so I'd recommend picking up a few bottles. A rock-solid cabernet that has the big oak and extraction one would expect for a luxury wine, but it snuck into the PLCB Wine & Spirits stores for half of that. There's a reason for...
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The Chook 2015 Shiraz Viognier, McLaren Vale
Like much of Australian lingo, Chook has a forboding silliness to it. WTF is a Chook? Is it an insult? A term of affection? I went looking for clues. In Shakespeare's England, it was a term of endearment, first recorded in Love's Labor Lost. A wine of endearment is...
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Robert Mondavi Winery 2014 Fume Blanc, Oakville
This is a landmark bottle of Napa wines. One of those historic wines that fly under the radar these days. Let's let the old guard take up the description of this wine: 1968 Mondavi's Fume Blanc is made entirely from the Sauvignon Blanc grape variety, the same that is...
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Simi 2014 Reserve Chardonnay, Russian River Valley
A barrel fermented, barrel aged, full buttery bomb MLF of a Chardonnay. Largely sourced from the Goldfields Vineyard in Sonoma's Russian River Valley, this bottle offers exactly what you'd expect from a luxury-level Cali wine. This is one of the last vintages made...
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Hecht & Bannier 2016 Rosé, Côtes de Provence
Hecht & Bannier are a négociant winery based in the southern French town of Aix-en-Provence. Since 2002, they've released a number of very good red wines. However, it's their rosé program that is getting noticed and for very good reasons. They produce three...
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Tenuta di Burchino 2010 Il Burchino Toscana
Tenuta di Burchino is located in northern Tuscany, in the hills outside Pisa. I've has some great wines from this producer, in particular, their Genius Loic IGT from their "Le Corti" vineyard. They've also produced some good Chianti Superiore as well. The Il...
read moreThe 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.
May 2018 Newsletter
I hope you are doing well. I am a bit late with the newsletter this month. Sorry! We've been a little busy renovating the school. I hope you can forgive me. I've enclosed my top wine suggestions, and I've posted a few really cool classes. I think you'll like...
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A Wrinkle in Wine: The Former Chairman Returns. Sort of.
File under: down the rabbit hole we go. Jonathan Newman, the former Chairman of the PLCB is selling wine to Tim Holden, the current PLCB Chairman for the Chairman's Selections Program that Mr. Newman created when he was Chairman. Huh? It's been over a decade since...
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Food and Wine Books 2018
The Complete Sous Vide Cookbook Back in the Iron Age, I worked my way up into an executive chef position. I'm not talking prehistory (that would be a feat) but when all food was cooked using the raw power of hot iron grills under massive exhaust hoods. I...
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Wine School Newsletter for March 2018
MARCH NEWSLETTER ANNOUNCING OUR NEW SOMMELIER CERTIFICATIONS You can now earn a specialized sommelier certification in a single month. This Spring, the National Wine School is unveiling a bold new qualification for the wine trade: the Single Semester Sommelier Program...
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The 10 Best Wines of 2017
The (PLCB) Fine Wine and Good Spirits Edition This past year was a fantastic one for those of us living in Pennsylvania, at least for wine. The first independent wine shops started cropping up all over the state, and a handful of state-run stores finally found their...
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Top Ten Wine Shops in Philly
Buying good wine in Philly can be a challenge. The prices are too damn high. Most of the folks working in the stores know more about Barefoot Cellars than Bordeaux. It would be very reasonable to despair. But don't despair: we have your back. We have compiled the...
read moreSelections from our Wine Cellar
A few wine reviews from our archives.
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