For the past six months we have been hunting for our next star at the Wine School.

We had some rather significant criteria: someone with years of wine trade experience, someone who had both attended and excelled in our academic programs, someone who had a natural gift to teach, someone with a tough work ethic, someone who had experience managing companies, someone with a minimum of a masters degree, and someone whose career goals meshed with the school's charter.

It was a crazy list of expectations. The only thing we didn't ask of them was to gallop into the interview on the back of a unicorn while juggling seven chain saws... and singing a medley of show tunes.

Despite the fact that we promised to overwork and underpay anyone who was crazy enough to apply, we had a staggering amount of applicants for the position. It probably didn't hurt that we are the only school in the country where someone can earn a decent salary being a Sommelier-Instructor.

After a few months of work, we were able to narrow down the list to thirty candidates, and then to a final six folks. In the end, the senior staff were asked to rank the finalists. One name was at the top of everyone's list: Zachary Morris.

Our deep thanks to everyone who applied for this position and was part of the process. The sheer numbers of talented applicants made this a very difficult decision.

The school started in Manayunk in 2001 and for the last five years we have called the Art Museum District home. We have grown and grown, and now we are busting at the seams.

We are planning to move in early 2011, but where shall we go? What neighborhood should we move into? We want your input.

To sweeten the deal, everyone who votes gets a 20% discount on wine classes and the chance to win a free subscription to the Wine Spectator Magazine!

We are repeating this just in case you didn't ready the article above ;

To get the discount, all you have to do is tell us where you would like us to go (literally!): click here for the sale.

One of our readers, Josh K, sent me an email last month regarding his shopping experiences in Pennsylvania's wine stores. He had a number of valid complaints:

When the wine was opened the cork crumbled and the wine was oxidized and undrinkable.  The second bottle was the same.  Another example of our great State Store system!  A good wine ruined by poor storage and/or shipping.  

You should add a disclaimer to your article and suggestions about this fact and tell everyone to return these bad wines.  Only when they are inundated with returns will anyone listen, I hope.  When will we get a real wine store in this state?

For him and all of you, I have written this guide to shopping at the PLCB wine stores.

Always keep your receipts.
There are two reasons to do so. First of all, you always have the right to return any bottle of wine that is unsatisfactory, but the PLCB shops will demand a receipt before acting on your request.

Second, you must be able to prove that the wine was legally purchased; otherwise, the state could (theoretically) confiscate your wine, as well as issue a fine.

Beware Bad Storage.
Be careful when and where you make your purchases. Wine storage is awful in most of the PLCB stores, and it's even worse in many of their warehouses. The trick is to not buy wines that have been exposed to high temperatures.
Easy to say, but not easy to do.

First, be very careful when buying wines from July through the end of September; these are the months when heat damage is most likely. Oftentimes, heat damage won't impact wines for immediate drinking but it can really do a number on wines you intend to cellar.

Second, only buy wines that have just been shipped into the state. Wines in case stack-outs are more likely to be purchased in higher volumes. This means the wines are less likely to have been hanging around since the summertime.
In PA, the most obvious case stack-outs are the Chairman's Selections.

Finally, check every bottle you buy for leakage. If wine has leaked through the cork, don't buy it (or if you already did buy it, return it): that wine is not only cooked, it is probably oxidized, too.

Don't trust the hype.
The "Quoted Price" of those Chairman Selections are not realistic numbers. In years past, back when my friend Jonathan Newman was the Chairman, the deals were often quite good. These days, the discounts are less reliable and often are the same prices available in the free market (e.g., Delaware and New Jersey).

Further, don't trust any posted wine ratings or reviews from Wine Spectator, Wine Advocate, or any other source. On far too many occasions, the posted wine ratings are for the wrong vintage and sometimes the wrong wine altogether. For the most part, it's probably not intentional fraud, just rank incompetence.( I am not sure which is worse, honestly.)

One more thing: Stay away from the racks. These are the wines that often spend the most time in the system and are also priced exorbitantly. Occasionally, there will be a great deal on a bottle of wine in the racks, but it's probably been sitting on the shelf or a back room for years. At best, those wines are a gamble.

When I make my suggestions every month, I take this all into account. I make sure the wines I suggest have not been in the system for too long (we track shipments in and out of the state). I check the national databases to make sure the PLCB prices are really a good deal. Finally, all wines are rated and judged in a blind tasting.

That's a whole lot of work for something we put out for free, but there are over 8,000 people who purchase wines on my recommendations, and I take that seriously.

Keith Wallace, Executive Director and Founder of the Wine School of Philadelphia.

Wine Reviews

All wines reviewed are available throughout the Philadelphia Metropolitan area. We select wines because of their high quality to price ratio.

To find these wines near you, we suggest using our free wine finder service.

Top Reds Under $20

$14.99
Has the ripeness and body to appeal to a mass audience, but also sports a burnt-toast and spicebox aroma that leads into some very complex flavors. The best Ripasso I have ever seen at this price point, period.

$16.99
The text book southern Rhone bottling with grace and elegance. Lavender and currant on the nose, with a lush palate of rich dark fruit, wet stones, and smoke.

$17.99
It all starts with a savage nose redolent of wild animal and burnt earth. Fresh wild strawberries and mineral and loam are stitched into a lean and vibrant package of flavors that ends in a long structured finish.

$16.99
Typically, single clone Pinots come off as beautiful but unbalanced, but this bottle does not fall prey to that fault. It also doesn't suffer from the all-to0 typical flabbiness of Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley. What is this wine, then?

Floral notes go towards jasmine and patchouli, and on the palate, an element of ginger beer interplays with the black fruit and cinnamon.

$29.99
I will be giving this out as a holiday favor to the Wine School staff. While rich and impressive now, the Luce is always much better with a few years of aging. Currently, it is mostly licorice and mocha following dense black fruit, dense tannins, dense body, dense finish. In other words, a monolithic bottling.

Friday, December 17th
7:30pm - 9:30pm
Bacchus Classroom