Winebits 747: Ann Pollack, Vinho Verde, ancient wine

This week’s wine news: Ann Pollack, long-time Drink Local stalwart, dies. Plus, young people like Vinho Verde and more ancient wine discoveries

• Ann Pollack, 1945-2022: Ann Lemons Pollack, who helped make Drink Local Wine a success, died last week. She was 76. Ann, along with husband Joe, was instrumental in the success of our Missouri event in 2011 in St. Louis. Ann, a food writer, knew everyone in town and used those contacts to plug the event. How else would a Chicagoan end up doing a spot on the uber-St. Louis radio station, KMOX? And, unlike so many other food writers, she understood that local wine was just as relevant as local food to the locavore movement. Even more important: Ann was a fine person, generous with her time and wisdom. The string of tributes in St. Louis-area media is not surprising.

• Vinho Verde: The WC, in my enthusiasm for Portugal’s cheap and delightful Vinho Verde white wine, never thought it would make me cool. But a British magazine reports that the hipsters are in love with a Vinho called Chin Chin: This “Portuguese white wine went viral in the same way as banana bread, quizzes and moderate depression – and its reputation has kept growing ever since. Particularly popular among drinkers in their 20s and 30s, the merrily named Vinho Verde also become symbolic of a new type of wine consumer.” What’s next for the WC? TikTok? BeReal?

• 6,300 year old wine: Wine may have been a part of everyday life in early Bronze Age Greece, according to a recent discovery in the northwestern part of the country. Researchers found grape seeds and pomace that had been preserved in a house fire that took place around 4300 BC. It’s not clear if the grapes for the wine were grown or foraged, but what is clear, says the report, is that this is the earliest evidence of wine production in Europe.

Photo: St. Louis Public Radio