Mark dispels seven myths about tequila while sharing his passion for this increasingly popular spirit.  Catch him teaching tequila at the upcoming South Beach Wine & Food Festival (#SOBEWFF) and the FOOD & WINE Festival in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo (#IZSips).

GSM Blends & Stanford Football – Drink Bravely with Mark Oldman – Episode 59: The High Road

Mark Oldman is at the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix to discuss how his beloved, remarkable Stanford Cardinal has taken the high road, which is also the name of a delicious GSM wine blend from California’s Central Coast. Made famous in the spicy wines of France’s southern Rhone Valley, blends of the grapes Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre are now also strutting their stuff from wineries in Australia and California.

Featured GSM blend:
Villa Creek “The High Road” James Berry Vineyard Paso Robles 2004

Other Godly GSMs from California and Australia:

D’Arenberg Cadenzia GSM 2009 (Australia, $28)
Beckmen Vineyards GSM Barrel Select Cuvee 2009 (California, $40)
Cline Cellars GSM Cashmere 2010 (California, $18)
J. Lohr Gesture GSM Paso Robles 2008 (California, $30)
Halter Ranch GSM Cotes de Paso 2008 (California,
Hug Cellars El Pape GSM 2009 (California, $28)
Rosemount GSM Show Reserve 2007 (Australia, $30)

“Poosh It!”

Cheap wine is not bad wine! This New Year’s, if you want to avoid overpaying a restaurant or bar for the right to experience tepid beer, viciously thumping music, and the crush of overindulging strangers, Mark Oldman has the solution for you. In this video he demonstrates that you can “go big” at home by treating your friends and family to a big bottle of affordable bubbly served in jumbo-sized candy trays available at most houseware stores.

Featured wine:
Mionetto Prosecco di Valdobbiadene “MO Sergio” Extra Dry NV (Italy, 3L, $58 – the 1.5L is about $25)

Other Excellent & Economical Grande-Size Bubblies (all currently for sale in the U.S.)
Drusian Prosecco Brut NV (Italy, 1.5L, $30)
Jaume Serra Cristalino, Brut Cava Brut NV (Spain, 1.5L, $20)
Gruet Blanc de Noir Brut NV (New Mexico, 1.5L, $42)
Korbel Brut NV (California, 1.5L, $25)
Roederer Estate Anderson Valley Brut (California, 1.5L, $50)
Ruggeri Prosecco, Extra Dry Gold Label (Italy, 1.5L $50)
Segura Viudas Cava Reserva Heredad Brut (Spain, $44)
Taittinger La Francaise Champagne Brut NV (France, 1.5L, $75)

“Poosh It”

Mark again demonstrates the cost-saving, memory-making pleasures of the BYOT, converting a year’s worth of loose change into one nugget of Piedmontese splendor and using it to “over-truffle” the pizza at New York’s Pizza Gruppo. This year, he and friends match the truffles with Sagrantino di Montefalco, a rich, muscular wine from the Umbria region of central Italy that he decants for three hours in a wide-rimmed, “luck”-bringing container. We learn how the funky, almost magic nature of the truffle used to be kept away from monks and was once likened to the “tousled sheets of a brothel’s bed”.

Featured Sagrantino
Arnaldo Caprai Sagrantino di Montefalco 2003 ($70)

Other Strong Sagrantino
Arnaldo Caprai Sagrantino di Montefalco “25 Anni” 2005 ($100)
Di Filippo Sagrantino di Montefalco 2006 ($32)
Perticaia Sagrantino Di Montefalco 2005 ($38)
Villa Mora Montefalco Sagrantino 2006 ($35)