Passionate about helping wine enthusiasts jostle the jaded and slay the snooty, Mark Oldman is one of the country’s leading wine personalities. His signature style was best summed up by Bon Appètit magazine: “winespeak without the geek”.
Mark’s new book, Oldman’s Brave New World of Wine (W. W. Norton), is now available. The ultimate antidote for those craving new taste sensations, the book plots a course to pleasure, value, and adventure beyond wine’s usual suspects, focusing on that holy grail of wine lovers: insider wines of moderate cost and maximum appeal.
Mark’s last book, the best-selling Oldman’s Guide to Outsmarting Wine (Penguin), was called “perfect” by Wine Enthusiast and “shortcuts to a connoisseur’s confidence” by BusinessWeek. Currently in its eighth printing, it won the Georges Duboeuf Best Wine Book of the Year Award, was a finalist for “Best Wine Book” at the World Food Media Awards, and is published in Japan, Belgium, and in four volumes in France.
Mark is a lead judge in the PBS television series “The Winemakers” and is in the middle of filming the show’s next season in France’s Rhone Valley. He is also a regular on Martha Stewart Radio’s “Living Today” program on Sirius Satellite Radio.
Mark has written for several top publications, including Food & Wine, Departures, and Travel & Leisure, and he chooses all of the wine picks for the 15-million annual readers of Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine. He also lectures at the country’s top gastronomic festivals, including the Aspen Food & Wine Classic, the Boston Wine Expo, and the South Beach Food Network Wine & Food Festival. You can also catch him at the upcoming Epicurean Classic and the Food Network New York Wine & Food Festival.
Mark began his wine journey in 1990 when as a student he founded Stanford Wine Circle, a popular university club hosting tastings with California wine legends, earning him the nickname “Bacchus on the Campus” in Wine Spectator magazine. Graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University with a B.A., M.A., and J.D., Mark has long been keenly interested in innovating in the areas of education and consumer advocacy. Mark co-founded the career portal Vault.com in 1997 and served as the company’s president through its successful sale in 2007 to a private equity firm. He has served on four major boards of Stanford, including the university’s board of trustees, for which he was chairman of the board’s committee on investment responsibility.