As we recently discussed, Marnie Old is dealing with a rather large black eye regarding her protest of the launch of Union Trust, the ubersteakhouse opening on 7th and Chestnut. Based on comments here and on other food-related sites, apparently Ms. Old has almost as large a list of detractors as well-wishers. Today, though, support for Marnie came from a very unlikely source: Keith Wallace, founder of our beloved Wine School of Philly. Wallace states that this process is very commonplace and we should give Marnie a break.

This comes as a huge shock to all of us at Phoodie for one simple fact: Marnie backhanded the school in a Philly Mag article from 2006, referring to their education as ‘lighthearted’. What she failed to mention was that the institution is home to some of the finest wine minds in our community, and produced students that went on to UC Davis (the premiere school for Wine Education in the U.S.), and the University of Adelaide in Australia.

Wallace’s support for his industry is noble and especially so for the sake of someone that has seen fit to cheapshot his brainchild in print. Why he did, we’re not sure, but we do know this story is far from over.