Pair with Bevinars by Mark Oldman: Secrets of Loire

You could pay a fortune to see one of Mark Oldman’s famous, “five-star” (Food & Wine) “wildly popular” (Aspen magazine) live seminars at the nation’s top food festivals or you can take this Bevinars virtual series for a fraction of the cost and from the comfort of your own living room. In his trademark style that Bon Appétit calls “winespeak without the geek,” award-winning author and renowned speaker Mark Oldman will discuss classic grapes and flavor profiles, how to decipher a label, food pairings, ageability, and more. But Mark’s presentations always have more: he fills each session with his trademark “nuggets” of useful insider information that you won’t find anywhere else.

SECRETS OF LOIRE
Follow the Loire River -- France’s longest and laziest -- and you will find some of the world’s most refreshing, food-friendly, gently-priced wine. In the Loire Valley, you have France’s largest production of bubbly outside of Champagne, the world templates for the grapes Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc, and reds of remarkable brightness and savoriness.

We will consider a range of key subjects, including why Loire wines are considered among the most versatile, why sommeliers adore the region, why the Loire is considered the epicenter for both the idea of terroir and the natural wine movement, and which Loire wines have surprising ageabiilty.

We will start with Crémant de Loire, the quality sparkling wine that not enough wine enthusiasts know about. Next comes Loire’s well-known favorite, Sancerre, a paragon of grassy pungency and tongue-tingling crispness. We then turn to two excellent Loire reds, Sancerre Rouge and Chinon, which are snappy, charming slingshots of red berry flavor and earth.

In additional to the featured wines being presented, Mark will clue you into a slew of other tempting Loire types, from Muscadet to Vouvray.

Please visit bevinars.com to view upcoming class dates and to register. Registration is $55 per household/Zoom link or $176 (20% off) for the full four-week course.

Four featured wines, one bottle each representing this style:

• Crémant de Loire
• Sancerre
• Sancerre Rouge
• Chinon

The specific selection of wine, and vintage, can vary state to state but will always be fitting of the style required to best enjoy the class. All wines have been personally approved by Mark.

About Mark Oldman
Known for his singular ability to unravel wine’s complexities with a potent blend of knowledge, entertainment, and imagination, Mark Oldman is one of the country’s top wine personalities and founder and CEO of Bevinars. He is author of several award-winning wine books that are considered the best of their kind, including the IACP-Award-winning How to Drink Like a Billionaire and Oldman’s Guide to Outsmarting Wine. Mark’s long-standing invitations to the country’s top food festivals and consistently sold-out appearances there attest to his position as one of food world’s most popular speakers. And when Amazon or Estee Lauder or dozens of other blue-chip companies need a wine expert to enthrall audiences, they turn to Mark. You might say that Mark has perfected the ability to distill complex subjects into enlightening, easily digested insights. Before turning to wine full-time, Mark cofounded and ran the career portal Vault.com based on exactly this approach of discerning demystification. And as a former trustee and three-time graduate of Stanford University, Mark has long been dedicated to education at its highest level.