Oldman’s energy back for another round at Food & Wine

Wearing a suede jacket with fringe and standing down by the River Tent, I was feeling my Lloyd Christmas vibes and it struck me that I was living a true Aspen experience, “where the beer flows like wine.”

Mark Oldman, back for his 15th appearance at Food & Wine in Aspen, is upping his game once more for “Wines for Quintillionaires” sharing some beautiful reds, whites and bubbles first thing in the morning. As he mentioned, drinking wine at 10:30 a.m. is all about freedom.

Despite drinking wine that hits over the $500/bottle mark and talking about truffle hunting in Italy (which several people in the tent Saturday morning have done), the beauty of Mark is that he makes wine approachable, giving us normal humans what he calls nuggets of wine knowledge.

I left his seminar at the tent nestled near the Roaring Fork River knowing that next time I make it to Sonoma or (in my dreams) southern France, I am going to sound like a pro.

If you have never experienced Mark Oldman, I highly recommend his virtual tasting series “bevinars,” which helped me get through quarantine and the time leading up to this year’s Food & Wine Classic. (And check out the Facebook Live Mark did Friday from Summer Road on Aspen Mountain with Aspen Times Editor David Krause.)

I’ll leave you with a few notes:

An empty bottle: “dead soldier”

Vionger: “French grape with American cleavage”

Napa Cabernet: “made for immediate pleasure”

Happy sipping!