Core Sommelier Course (Fall Semester) at the Philly Wine School
Sunday, October 04, 2026 - 1:30 PM
to Sunday, October 25, 2026 - 6:00 PM
1:30 PM - 6:00 PM See all dates and Times
Eight weeks, 16 sessions, and the entry point to a full professional wine curriculum.
The Philly Wine School has taught this material since 2001. The Core course combines the school's Foundation and Intermediate programs into one semester — the full sequence in half the calendar time, and for less than taking them separately.
Each Sunday runs two sections. The first works through a wine region: France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, North America, Australia, South America. The second builds tasting skill, from sensory mechanics through varietal structure to blind identification. By week seven students are tasting blind. By week eight they are being examined on it.
The teaching is old-school and deliberately demanding — lecture, guided tasting, discussion, instructor feedback, written exams. Most students find in the first two weeks that they knew less than they thought. That is the design. Bring a notebook.
Graduates earn Level III certification from the National Wine School and can continue into the Advanced program — four semesters, 32 classes — and then to master-level study.
Keith Wallace founded the school in 2001. A Napa-trained winemaker and the author of Corked & Forked, he has taught at Drexel University. Alana Zerbe is director of wine education; she holds a J.D. and an LL.M., practiced law in Washington before moving into wine full time, and developed the National Wine School's Level One and Level Three programs. Both teach this course.
Tuition covers the course workbook and tasting materials, both in-class exams, and Level III certification on completion. No prerequisites. Classes are held at 109 S. 22nd St. in Rittenhouse.
"For over 20 years, this independent institution has quietly trained the next wave of sommeliers, winemakers, and beverage professionals." — AWS Wine Journal, American Wine Society Educational Foundation, Summer 2025
"The best wine school, period. Everything I've achieved in the world of wine, I owe to them." — Neil Ross, director, Vernick Restaurant Group
