Really knowledgeable and fun guest.

Qotd: I don’t eat out that much, but I actually had an amazing dinner at blue hill at stonebarns, but the som really was pushy on expensive wines

QOTD: I am especially annoyed when a sommelier pours the wine without smelling the cork, making me feel bad whenever I detect a cork flaw. I think a sommelier should always smell the cork or/and try a sip. It doesn’t rule out all cork flaws because some are appearing much later, but it will still reduce the chance of having awkward situations.

A good

good show, good guest. Gary, I’m glad you finally tasted a vintage Madeira on the show, even if it took a guest bringing it. Now you’ve done 2 Madeiras close together, so I am almost satisfied. Still, though, on an informational level I think it’s a category that you have neglected to address appropriately.

qotd: I had a wine buyer argue with me when I said a wine was corked. I don’t think he even knew what cork taint was. I was also once at a very nice restaurant that had a Cru Beaujolais listed as a Pinot Noir. At that time I hadn’t memorized all of the crus, so I ordered it expecting red Burgundy. I knew it was gamay when I tasted it, but the bottle was open, it was very good, I knew it would go well with the food, and there wasn’t much else that looked interesting anyway, so we drank it. I mentioned this all to the server towards the end of the meal and she went to question the wine steward. The wine steward, who never even came to the table, insisted that it was PN from Burgundy from a far southern AC. I had our server smell the wine (there was none left in the bottle to pour for her) and even she admitted that it smelled very much like Beaujolais and not at all like Burgundy. I suggested that they do some homework and maybe update their list. Another one that seemed ridiculous was ordering a red wine and having it show up really warm. I mean well above 70 degrees, warm to the touch. Again, at a “nice” restaurant. It tasted fine once I got it into an ice bucket for a few minutes, but what if they had a bottle in that condition for a couple of months? This question should generate a lot of horror stories. I’ve read about many that are far worse than mine.

I gotta stick up for us somms, while i too have had a poor experience or two with snobby sommeliers, who i knew more than but didn’t flex as Mark said. I have also had poor service from mechanics, waiters, and dentists. I may choose to spend my money elsewhere but that doesn’t mean I judge all these professionals on one poor experience or never have my car fixed, eat out or teeth cleaned again. While some of somms may be stuck up and pretentious there are far more of us who are kind and simply love being around wine and helping others to find a passion for what we have dedicated our lives to, as a wise man once said “you with a little bit of me, we’re changing the wine world”.

GV. keep making em and I’ll keep watching em.

Awesome guest !!!!!

Great show, and thanks for the nod to Maialino. I’m a sous chef there, and would love for you (Gary) to come in sometime, and you (Mark) to come back!

oh and i really think you should bring Mark back at a later date. Not anytime soon…gotta keep it “fresh”

your so right, must be why i never have a bad experience with them either

acomment, jarred my memory to similar episodes… and in my case, it was not a Somm, but a server, padding a huge check. there was a party for my bro’s B-day, and I’d pre arranged w/ the rest., to bring in a 3L of modest Paveil de Luze, 1999 and a couple of other openers , of which i distinctly remember my 2002 Ramey Hudson Chard. The corkage fees were pre arranged, agreed upon w/ management, and I left the double Magnum at the restaurant a few days in advance, so as to not be totally agitated, and requested that I would like to handle pouring, and a decanter, if possibel, as the place did not actually have a Somm. Mgmt was good, service was thorough, but the server was indiscriminately tacking on every manner of extra and split plate, ad absurdum ,and had no qualms aboutany ethicallity, when i’d spent a day, plus a bunch of phone converstions to set the parameters for a party of a dozen people (which i hate to be a part of , in the first place – but if family wishes, what’re ya gonna do? So a lousy waiter here, too, tried to bring me down, but a few of the party let him have it, It was readjusted, but I am embarrassed to be any part of such scenes, and had actively, as a familiar pro, already tried to prevent and eliminate any such awkwardness. Whereas I fully know to be prepared to pay for what you want, I guess one is rarely, if ever prepared when someone (too often) see it as their objective to flagrantly gouge customers.

GREAT couple of episodes; Mark was an engaging guest, I really enjoyed his perspective and his paradigm on wine, it very much mirrors my own (Hess collection is often a go to safe call for me as well, and I loved my visit there a few years ago).

QOTD: Remarkably, I haven’t had an issue in a restaurant. Being from Baltimore, even our high end places still have our city’s down to earth sensibility. I do find being engaging and friendly when talking to waiters helps, it lets them know that while, yes, I’m dropping a couple Cs on dinner and wine, I’m not above talking Ravens or engaging in a little wine geekery, and never, ever make them feel like a server, but as a valuable partner in the dining experience. That attitude goes a long way.

When on the road, I tend to look for local flavor. I again identify myself as such, and to a certain extent, put myself in their hands. Generally speaking, that works out just fine, and in some cases, ends up being a stellar experience (at Bouchon in Napa just a few weeks ago, I had a 500ml of a spectacular wine that was perfect with both my wife and my meals, and a great value… all I did was ask for exactly that.)

First of all, great episode – I really enjoyed it. Mark sounds like a great guy who I can really relate to. I’ll have to check out his book. Nice selection of wines so props to Grape Ape as well.

QOTD: The worst wine experience I had at a restaurant was in Europe when I ordered a very nice 3rd growth Bordeaux and when I tasted it, it was corked. I noted this to the waiter and he had the sommelier taste it. The somm said that the wine was fine (which is was not). I had to argue with the sommelier for several minutes before he would replace the wine. The next bottle was so clrearly better that if there was any doubt originally, there certainly wasn’t anymore. I don’t know how any wine professional could smell wet cardboard in a wine and not say it was corked. Amazing..

Hey Guys

GREAT SHOW, thanks so much. Mark is one cool dude (though perhaps the photo photo of himself on front of his book is just a touch too much…). Anyway love the chat and love the wines.

QOTD: 95% of the time I hate buying wine in restaurants here in HK. The overpricing is such a joke that I can usually only bring myself to order the lower priced options as everything is such a rip-off. Again in Hong Kong there’s no real culture of soms in most restaurants, for most people wine is about brand names and image rather than actually taste and interest. For most Hong Kong restaurant goers buying wine is about a couple looking good so it’s simply a matter of buying the msot expensive Baordeaux you can afford. The fact that there’s no soms actually kind of makes me happy as I love a casual, relaxeddinning experience.

Cheers
Andrew

Turned out to enjoy the 2nd part better than the first.

QOTD: No real horror stories as we don’t drink a ton of wine out at resturants unless it is a special occasion. Most of the time the worst we get is the look of “these kids” don’t know anything, but that usually goes away once I ask a specific question inregards to the list. Of course I find that the better quality of resturant usually the better wine service IMO. The Inn At Little Washington had the best staff I have ever encountered.

Like this episode. Mark is a cool guy

QOTD:
What makes me sad is if a restaurant is not offering any fair priced wine. Selling bad stuff starting from 30$.
There are a lot places like this. In this case I will not be ordering.

Fortunately there are lots of other places. Especially a lot of high-end restaurants are doing a good job.
Mugaritz (http://bit.ly/gsmryg) 2 star Michelin restaurant has interesting wines on the list starting from 15 Euro
Gresca (http://bit.ly/g24ILZ) the excellent wine we had where almost at cost.

GV, I Loved this show!!!!!!! Mark is such an interesting guy, I may have to get his book because I was so captivated by the stories and that he speaks so well. I wish you would have spoke a little more about this Madeira because there was so much history in one bottle. I am sure I will watch this again because it was so good. Thanks for bringing the “THUNDER”! Mark you are definately a great guy!

In Vegas at Hugo”s downtown, the 24 yr Sommalier, brought out a German
table reisling, when I ordered a Kabinet. I brought to his attention after looking over
the label, He then brought out his lite because I said Kabinett must appear on the
label. He then just muttered ” It is a Kabinett” German wine law says otherwise as you
know. Have another show on German Rieslings, the Greatest and most misunderstood
white wine on earth!!

QOTD: My first and thankfully so far last bad experience with a sommelier was at Tetsuya in Sydney.. at the time one of the top 50 restaurants in the world (apparently!). All they do is a set degustation and we had the matched wines… I swapped some of my meat dishes with fish dishes which did not seem to be a problem, however when it came to the matched wines, true assembly-line style, they were pouring me the same wines as the rest of the table.. which I could take on a light bodied red but when it came to a full bodied shiraz to go with my delicate fish fillet I asked to have a wine that would suit.. only to be barked at and lectured about how the wine choices were progressive! Insisting that I didn’t think this shiraz would do any wonders in terms of my progression, I got a snooty, ‘well I can pour you some more Chardonnay’ (which I really didn’t want either as it was an oak monster) to ‘well what would you like then’.. really, really awful
Anyone thinking of going to Tetsuya’s, don’t there are plenty of other places where your money will be better spent!

I suspected that all of their red wine would have been that temperature. The wine actually tasted fine once it got to a reasonable temperature. I don’t think I’ll be going back to that restaurant, though. It’s a shame because the food was outstanding.

Mark is awesome, definitely one of the most interesting people you’ve had on the show. What I like about him is he’s extremely articulate and a very good listener. I have a feeling that we only saw the tip of the iceberg; I think this guy has a lot to offer the wine and food industry. Keep it going Mark! Kudos Gary for bringing him on your show.

Great episode, great guest!

QOTD: there are a lot of really passionate and friendly sommeliers out there, but there are also many that are primarily interested in increasing the average bill.

QOTD: My wife and I went out for dinner to a nice restaurant for my birthday. The waiter comes up and asks us what we would like to drink. Since he was looking at me I started to answer “I’ll have a glass of . . .” then I stopped and motioned to my wife and said “ladies first.” She orders a glass of white wine and the waiter immediately turns around and runs back to the bar like lightning. He returns a few minutes later with an entire bottle of white wine. Being polite I smiled and drank white wine with my birthday steak.

be a man and speak your mind

yup. next time I ask for where the beef comes from. haha.

I don’t understand ordering a very good/expensive bottle of wine at a restaurant, since the wine won’t have time to breath, and you’re forced to drink it when it is far from optimal. That just seems like a waste to me. I try to order the wine early and have it decanted. On a separate note, at Babbo some years ago (I’m afraid it was better back then…), the somm opened the wine at his station, then poured a small amount of the wine (a memorable Montefalco Sagrantino from Bea) in each glass and carefully coated the entire inside of the glass with the wine. It really brought out the aroma of the wine and enhanced the experience.

92/100

lines of the day – ‘I like to bottom feed at auctions’, ‘Capricorn is a bargain basement Zodiac sign’, and ‘I’ve written 2 books on wine and I still feel like garbage’ (in restaurants)

Great show – the guest got even better and was very quotable. Could’ve included 10+ memorable quotes