Wine School of Philadelphia Named Silver Winner Trade School as Keith Wallace Discusses Vineyard Frost Damage and Wine’s Religious Roots

Keith Wallace hosts an episode of After Wine School, noting Alanna Zerbi is teaching upstairs, and thanks The Philadelphia Inquirer for naming the Wine School of Philadelphia the silver winner for top trade school in the 2020 Philly Favorites, highlighting reader and student voting and quoting the magazine’s praise for open, anti-snob wine education. He explains the school’s state-recognized professional certifications are authorized through Vermont’s National Wine School and contrasts this with unregulated international trade certificates, arguing wine education should provide entry to the industry without four- or six-year degrees. He then describes severe East Coast vineyard losses from early bud break followed by an April freeze, including reported 80% losses in Pennsylvania and 100% bud loss at Maryland’s Black Ankle Vineyards, and similar frost damage in Hungary, offering mitigation ideas like delayed/double pruning and sprinkler protection. Wallace closes with cultural anthropology on wine’s role in ancient rituals and how Roman destruction of the temple system influenced communion, and mentions teaching a fall course on modern wine history.

00:00 Big Inquirer Win