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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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? 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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 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 …
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 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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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, …
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 …
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, …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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. …
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 …
From the palace of  King Louis XIV to the vineyards of Pennsylvania, rosĂ© wines have always been a part of wine drinking culture. This article offers the essentials of what it …
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 …
Want to Work in the Wine Industry? Discover Your Dream Job and How to Get It!Wine Professions for EveryoneThe wine industry offers a myriad of career opportunities to suit your aspirations. …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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, …
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, 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 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. …
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 …
Falanghina is derived from the Latin falangae, which refers to stakes used to support the grape in an ancient wine training method called alla putuelan. Falanghina is grown primarily in Campania but is …
In the calcareous and clay soils of Colli Tortonesi, nestled in northwest Italy, Timorasso has slowly — but stunningly — reemerged. Once drank by da Vinci and tasted as a table …
I was recently hit with the wanderlust bug and convinced 37 of my family members to travel to one of the most beautiful places in the world: Tuscany, Italy. In early …