Wine Reviews
All Things Corked & Forked
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 & spirits shops in Pennsylvania. Our main reviewer is Keith Wallace, the executive director and founder of the Wine School of Philadelphia. Want to locate a specific wine? Use our PLCB Wine Finder.
Sommelier Classes
The world of wine is wonderful. Its mastery opens opportunities in all sectors, from the hospitality industry to retail, from education to marketing, from distribution to production. Wine jobs are not only appealing, but they’re lucrative too. Wine professionals, like...
Top Wineries Near Philadelphia
Stuck at home and need some wine? Want to support a local winery? A number of students in our online wine classes asked us for this list, and here it is! If you have any favorite wineries that are not on the list, please let us know in the comments. In the era of...
Wine School May Be The Safest Place on Earth Right Now
Have any suggestions or comments? Let us know in the comments below. And We Are Going To Keep It That Way Have you noticed there are two types of people in our COVID-19 world? I have one neighbor whose entire reason to exist is to walk up to me and talk about the...
Wine Review Search
You can search our database of wine reviews for free. From Bordeaux to Virginia: there are over twenty thousand wine reviews dating back over twenty years. If you want access to the newest reviews, please register for our newsletter, the Wine Report. It’s a great free resource to find the top-rated wines currently available.
Our focus is on wines available in Pennsylvania. We feature wines in the Chairman’s Selection program and other discounted wines available in the PLCB Wine & Spirits Stores. You can also check out our reviews of Philly’s Top Wine Shops.
A Taste of Our Online Wine Classes
Want a taste of our online wine classes? I just edited our Online Wine Quizzo night into a two-minute youtube clip. It's silly and I am a terrible video editor, but I think you'll like it....
Twenty East Coast Wines that Rival Napa Valley
During the summer of 2020 (FML), I was preparing for an online wine class on east coast wines. While doing research, it struck me how far we've come, even in the last year. I made it a personal challenge to find twenty wines that prove that East Coast wineries...
Winemaking 101
History of Winemaking 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 economic engine since before the Roman Empire and an essential part of many religions. Today, dozens of...
Wine Reviews and Features from the Wine School
Israeli Wine
Israeli Wine History Wine has been produced in this region for thousands of years. However, the modern wine industry has started only in the late 1800's with the help of Baron Edmond James de Rothschild, who helped with the establishment of "Carmel Winery" which is...
Wines of Southern Sicily
Ragusa Ragusa is the most southern province of Sicily and the whole of Italy, situated in the Val di Noto. It’s a city of great tradition, dating back to Greek times, unfortunately completely destroyed by the earthquake of 1693 and completely rebuilt in a beautiful...
French Wine Primer
France's history with wine dates back to the 6th century BC - which they have managed to perfect throughout the centuries. When it comes to viticulture and winemaking process, the French are extremely particular and about their terroir, blends and aging processes....
Wine Delivery: Buying Wine Online
I didn't have to do much research for this article. I buy around $80K worth of wine a year, for the wine school, not me. I know who really delivers, in the most literal sense. I did my due diligence, though. I spent a few hours reading the "Best Online Wine Shops" ...
Seven Beer Styles
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 by an automated factory that pushes millions of insipid beers to the market every...
Economic Assistance Guide for the Wine Trade during the COVID-19 Pandemic
HR 748/the “CARES” Act is the two trillion dollar stimulus bill that is now law. It has several key features that any business owner in the wine trade should be aware of. Most of the key points are in a subsection called "Keeping American Workers Paid and...
The Story of Champagne
Champagne is one of those wines that every person, in every part of the world has heard about. It is the French sparkling wine that has the world in awe. Isn’t it funny though, that this sparkling wine was technically founded by the British and not by the French? A...
COVID-SAFE Re-opening of the Wine School
COVID-19 SAFE RE-OPENING We are excited to announce the Wine School is open for business! You can now safely register for classes and programs for this Fall. During the summer, we are offering our Online Wine School to keep you in the zone. Your safety is...
March 2020 Newsletter
March 2020 Newsletter FLASH SALE!!! 50% Off ALL Spring Classes! Our Spring semester has been sold out for months. Wanna guess what we just did ? We released NEW seats for every class this spring! But wait... there's...
February Wine Newsletter
Wine School Newsletter for February Wine School Newsletter for February Talk about 1st world problems: with the potential tariffs looming, we pulled in a crazy amount of European wines and spirits. Our wine cellars have never...
Holiday Wine Guide
Happy Holidays! We have a jam-packed newsletter for you this December. It's everything you need to survive the holidays. The only thing better would be a barrel of whiskey and a fistful of Lexapro. We opened up two classes for you, just after Christmas. The first is...
Wrap Up: November Wine Reviews
Wine Reviews Not as famous as Robert Parker's wine reviews, but a lot more useful if you live near Philly. We make sure the pricing is highly advantageous, as well. To read all our wine reviews, you can check them out here. Ulysses 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa...
Thanksgiving Wine and Cheese Pairings
The Whine & Cheeze Show! This is a fun project I worked on with Emilio Mignucci from DiBrunos and producer Jordan Sloane. This project also got me a profile on IMDb, so I am hella famous now. ...
Wine Reviews: The Essential Guide
As long as there’s been wine, there’s been wine writers. In Roman times, Pliny the Elder was very adept at identifying the best wines in the empire. A good review from the old guy could change a wine region’s destiny. Two thousand years later, not much has changed....
Wine Reviews for October 2019
Columbia Crest 2012 "Walter Clore Private Reserve" Red Columbia Valley This is a monster Merlot with a margin of Cabernet Sauvignon in the mix. Smoked chocolate and Dwayne Johnson-level muscularity. Last time it hit the shelves around here was in 2003, when we used...
The Case for Philly Wine
Specialists Vs Generalists in PA Wine Back 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 working for a big-brand like Gallo or a boutique winery. ...
A Guide to Wine Tasting
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 may feel like you’re a world away from their extensive knowledge, but it is actually...
Wine Reviews: Top Picks from Columbia Valley
Seven Hills 2015 Red, Walla Walla Valley A Bordeaux-style blend of mostly Cabernet Sauvignon and aged for two years in mostly older oak barriques. Cedar and wildflowers frame a classy move into old-world finesse. Flavors of Asian five-spice and sun-dried cherries...
Wine and Pizza Pairing
Okay, so John McKeever reached out to me a while back. Remember Delco Proper on Comedy Central? He was the director and star of that show. Apparently, he attended a class at the Wine School and had an idea. He wanted to do a food and wine show and wanted to do the...
Best Kept Wine Secrets: The Columbia Valley Wine Regions
Why is it that California gets all the love when Washington State makes great wines, too? The pat answer is that California has been growing grapes longer and it’s a core feature in America’s wine past. Napa Romantic What's all the fuss with...
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