About Marnie Old

Marnie Old is the Philadelphia area's leading wine educator and highest profile sommelier. She is sought after, both nationally and internationally, as a speaker on wine and beer. She uses plain English to teach common sense techniques for getting the maximum enjoyment from wine, beer, and spirits. Her infectious enthusiasm allows her to break through the traditional stuffiness of the topic.

Old is a member of the wine faculty at the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan and is the regional wine educator for Wine & Spirits Magazine. She writes beverage columns for Philadelphia Magazine and Pennsylvania's Wine & Spirits Quarterly and is a contributing editor for Santé Magazine. Her wine and beer segments appear regularly on "The Fretz Kitchen," which airs daily on Comcast's CN8 channel. She also consults, designing wine lists for top restaurants like Striped Bass and Buddakan.

Old spent five years as the Executive Beverage Director for Philadelphia's premier restaurant group, Meal Ticket Inc., operators of Striped Bass, Avenue B, Rouge, and Bleu. Old's cutting edge, all-Italian wine program at Avenue B was honored by Food and Wine magazine in its July 2001 issue as one of the country's "Ten Best New Wine Lists." She was also named Philadelphia Magazine's "Best of Philly Sommelier 2001." She served as the founding education chair of the American Sommelier Association and has taught award winning wine classes to both consumers and her peers in the industry since 1995. Old is certified as an Advanced Sommelier by the Court of Master Sommeliers, and is the only wine professional in the Philadelphia region currently enrolled in the Master Sommelier program. Old launched her independent venture, Old Wines LLC, in October 2001.