Marnie Old, an embattled sommelier?
Submitted by Wine Reviews from the Wine School
A recent much-talked about gossip column in the Daily News points out that longtime Philly sommelier Marnie Old is battling a budding restaurateur.
The owners of the Union Trust steakhouse have lashed out at a local sommelier (that’s wine expert to you and me) who’s trying to block them from getting a liquor license.
Marnie Old, who lives on the same block as the steakhouse, filed a protest letter with the state Liquor Control Board last summer. Read the whole article here: Marnie v Union Trust
The article implies that Marnie’s protest is hypocritical, since she has been involved with opening a number of major restaurants within Philly. The resulting hailstorm of blog and forum posts has been a bit overwhelming. From the personal attacks on Phillyblogs, to the misogynist comments on philly.com, to the criticism on Phoodie, this has not been a good week for Ms. Old.
Before Marnie is publicly tarred-and-feathered over this issue, it must be pointed out that she did nothing wrong. Any Philly resident can protest a new restaurant liquor license. These hearings are commonplace and part of the democratic process. Are we willing to deny a citizen the right to participate in the governmental process because she could benefit from it, both personally and professionally? This may come as a surprise to some, but self-interest is fundamental to the workings of both democracy and capitalism.
I don’t know Marnie Old, even though there was a persistent rumor a number of years ago that we were dating (we weren’t: I was dating a lovely woman named Marni). In fact, she is a competitor of my Wine School, and her luke-warm opinion of it is clearly evident in this Philadelphia Magazine article she wrote. I am not defending her out of friendship or kinship, but out of principle. Let Marnie be.
