PhillyWine LLC

PhillyWine LLC: A New School With a Familiar Name

If you’ve followed wine education in Philadelphia, the name PhillyWine probably rings a bell. The website Phillywine.com was originally the home of Neal Ewing Wine Services. The website was recently transferred to PhillyWine LLC, a new company offering WSET programs.

The Previous WSET Program

In 1999, Neal Ewing brought Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) courses to Philadelphia. His sister, Mary Ewing-Mulligan, has led New York’s International Wine Center for decades, and it was one of the first places in the country to offer WSET programs. Neal retired in 2022.

What Happened Next

In 2022, two of Neal’s students launched PhillyWine LLC.

The new company originally claimed to be a continuation of Ewing’s school, but that is currently being litigated. In court, PhillyWine’s lawyers have produced no contemporaneous documents showing that the new company acquired Ewing’s trademark rights. These are new developments, and we are catching strays in this process, which we detail below.

So we’re treating PhillyWine LLC as a new company. It will be judged on what it has done since 2022. It doesn’t inherit the old school’s reputation, good or bad.

The Lawsuit

In February 2026, PhillyWine LLC sued the Wine School of Philadelphia over its ownership of the trademark “Philly Wine School.” In May, the judge denied PhillyWine’s request for a preliminary injunction, so for now the ruling favors the Wine School of Philadelphia. PhillyWine has appealed to the Third Circuit, and the case is ongoing. PhillyWine LLC teaches its WSET classes at a private club about three blocks from the Wine School of Philadelphia. 

Disclosure

In court documents, PhillyWine LLC’s owners claim that we are biased against them and allege that we have colluded with the Wine School of Philadelphia. We dispute those claims. We mention this so readers know about the dispute and can weigh this review with that in mind.

Where Things Stand

PhillyWine LLC is a young company, only a few years old, and it should be viewed that way. Future reviews will look at its own track record: the courses it runs, how its instructors teach, and how its students do. Everything before 2022 belongs to a different school.