Our family has known Bela Adela (above) and her son Laurenzo since kindergarten when our youngest Lila Jane and Laurenzo became schoolmates.

Whether at school concerts or at the community pool, I’ve been bugging Bela about jamming with me for years. But she never took me seriously!

Then she started coming to our open mic at Emmit’s Place in our neighborhood. It was only a matter of time before she started sitting in. The last time, she and I were rocking out really hard and it was great. And after, she said, “Jeremy, I never realized! You’re actually pretty good!”

It was only natural: she and I immediately had an immense groove on stage. And her son, who is super talented, also plays with the Rhythmix, the middle schooler band that almost always performs at our shows.

On Sunday, Bela and the Bangers, with Bela on bass and lead vocals and me on Telecaster, will be headlining the monthly Emmit’s Kid-Friendly Open Mic.

No cover, doors at 1 p.m. Please come on down! There will be complete backline, mocktails for kids, grownup beverages for adults, and family-friendly food.

And if that’s not enough to get you off your butt and out on the dance floor, the incredible Evelyn Rubio will be sitting in with the Bangers on sax. She’s AMAZING!

And here’s the thing: the owner of Emmit’s Place, Susan, not only just lost her beloved husband, but she is also struggling to keep her club open. These Sunday open mics have been part of what is keeping her afloat. Please come down to support local music, local musicians, and local businesses. Thank you!

Kid-Friendly Open Mic
Sunday, September 21
1-4pm
featuring Bela and the Bangers
and the Rhythmix
EMMIT’S PLACE
4852 Benning Dr. (@ South Post Oak)
NO COVER
FULL BACKLINE
mocktails for kids
hot comfort food

Like many family households across America, ours has been home to conversations about the tragic killing of white Christian nationalist Charlie Kirk.

It doesn’t matter what religion or creed guides you. Children have been disturbed by the non-stop, all-consuming reporting on this horrific act.

As parents, it would be neglectful for us not to give our kids the resources they need at this fraught moment in our country’s history. We have been mindful in helping them to remember that Kirk was a father and husband. His family must be allowed to grieve his loss with dignity.

Like many Americans, I have been deeply offended by and steadfastly disagree with his advocacy for and vision of a white Christian hegemony in the U.S.

I also love people who love him.

They don’t love him because of racist statements he regularly made. They haven’t combed through myriad episodes of podcasts where he espoused ideology that most reasonable people would find egregiously offensive.

No, they loved him because he told them that it was okay to be white and Christian in this country. And guess what: it is okay to be white and Christian in this country, just like it is okay to be white and Atheist in this country, just like it’s okay to be white and Jewish.

I’m a white-eligible Jew who grew up and went to school on the west coast and built my career on the east coast. I am the apotheosis of what the right now calls the liberal elite. Nearly 16 years ago, I married into a white Christian family from southeast Texas who supports the current U.S. administration.

Over years of traveling from Texas to California, New York, and Europe, I’ve come to learn that people pigeonhole me as a white guy from southeast Texas. They assume and expect I hold certain attitudes and beliefs. Even my nuclear family derides me for being from Texas. It’s been an unfortunate but eye-opening experience.

I understand why people I love love Kirk. Not because he was a racist, although he was. Even he conceded that his advocacy was racist. But he also created a space where white Christian people felt welcomed. I, for one, believe we should give them space to grieve their loss with dignity.

When Gertrude Stein published The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas in 1933, she wasn’t just sharing a portrait of her and her partner’s life with readers. One of the great critical theorists of the 20th century, Stein also presaged a concept that would become central to the deconstruction movement: no matter what story you are telling, you are telling your own story. The rub is in the title itself: Alice B. Toklas didn’t write the “autobiography.” Stein did.

To compose a monograph on Italian wine today is a herculean task. Giants have come before the would-be Italianist: Nicolas Belfrage (Life beyond Lambrusco, 1985; Brunello to Zibibbo, 2003); Burton Anderson (Vino, 1992); and Sheldon and Pauline Wasserman (Italy’s Noble Red Wines, 1991) — just to mention a few.

As scholarly and finely tuned as those books may have been, we must still read them with Stein in mind: the authors are recounting their own personal experiences and impressions of Italian wine. By telling the story of Italian wine, they are telling their own story. This can be said of nearly all wine writing, save for the most technical (like a lab analysis).

Kevin Day’s newly released, self-published love letter to Italian wine, Opening a Bottle: Italy (2025), is no compendium of Italian wine. The after-thought, scant sections devoted to important wine regions like Puglia and Emilia-Romagna disqualify the book from that Pantheon.

The author’s focus, like much of Italian wine enthusiasm today, is centered on Piedmont and Etna. And his “top 100” omits some of Italy’s most iconic wines.

But in my view, that’s the point: this beautifully photographed and meticulously scribed book offers a window into an Italian wine blogger’s journey as he reminds us of what makes Italian wine truly magical. Kevin doesn’t prescribe the Italian wines that we should be drinking. Instead, he tells us what he’s been drinking, inviting us to join him.

Kevin’s blog and book stand apart among on Italian wine scene today because of the authenticity of his curiosity. His agenda? To share his experience and hopefully inspire and thrill us along the way. He’s not gaming for access or preening for self-affirmation. He’s just digging Italian wine and that’s good enough for me. Check out his book and blog here.

“Cork won a rare Trump tariff exemption thanks to lobbying on both sides of the Atlantic,” AP reported last week. “As of Sept. 1, cork joined a handful of other items, including airplanes and generic pharmaceuticals, that are exempt from a 15% U.S. tariff on most EU products.”

It makes sense in the context of U.S. policy: our country doesn’t produce cork but the domestic wine industry needs cork to align with industry standards for fine-wine packaging.

But the news offered scant relief to E.U. growers who had come to rely on a thirsty American market. Tariffs are here to stay.

Two days ago, enologist Riccardo Cotarella, a leading industry figure, published his “10-point” plan to “save [Italian] wine.”

Chief on his list is his recommendation to reduce the excessive amount of wine produced in Italy today. He also argues for more rigorous technical standards for new winery owners: make sure investors with little experience in the industry have the proper resources to launch profitable companies.

The much-talked-about piece is a reflection of the current crisis: wine consumption is globally down and wine has new competitors like alcohol-free and wellness beverages. Tariffs are the third component in this Jungerian perfect storm.

Few industry observers doubt that we are witnessing an epochal shift.

The good news for Italian growers is that government subsidies are now being activated and wineries are increasingly looking to markets beyond North America.

In my own personal experience, I’ve seen a number of Italian winemakers who have simply decided to move on from America. Beyond their sense of betrayal by a market who adored their wines for decades, many of them are also dismayed by American foreign policy with regard to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Can you blame them?

Photo snapped at Vinya in Key Biscayne, Florida, one of my favorite shops in the country.

TexSom has changed a lot since it was founded 20 years ago (it celebrated the milestone at this year’s gathering).

When an intrepid wine blogger first came to Texas to be with his future life partner in 2008, the small-scale event included a limited number of seminars and tastings but it already attracted top names from across the country (the conference was held at the Four Seasons in Austin that year). The educational component was geared to those studying to achieve wine education certifications and other titles.

By 2010, the affair had found its home at the Four Seasons in Irving (near Ft. Worth) and it had begun to attract wine professionals and winemakers from all over the world. Serge Hochar (of Lebananese wine fame), Joel Peterson (the celebrated “father” of California Zinfandel), Bartholomew Broadbent (as in the British legacy)… they were just some of the luminaries you would run into.

Over the years TexSom has had its highs and lows. But its organizers have always come back to the drawing board to see how they could build it into an event that reflected and embraced the broader wine community.

I led my first tasting at TexSom two years ago for the Abruzzo consortium. I was happily blown away by the way it had come to reflect the expansive spectrum of the U.S. wine trade. When I returned last month (having missed last year’s shindig), I saw that the organizers have remained steadfastly devoted to their commitment to include every gradation of the wine professional community.

But the thing I love the most about TexSom is the community it has created: when I spoke there about Abruzzo a few weeks ago, everyone — EVERY ONE — in the group of 50 or so people were there solely to learn and to taste. It’s such a refreshing, fulfilling, and rewarding experience to present to people who really want to hone their chops.

Absent are the folks just looking for a fun time. But that doesn’t mean that TexSom isn’t fun. In fact, its electricity and attendees’ verve gave one intrepid wine blogger hope for the greater wine industry. I highly recommend it to you.

Photo, which I love, by my good friend Sandra Samuel.

Out with the old, in with the new!

The demise of my band in Houston was a major bummer for me. The bass player decided he no longer wanted to play with us just a few days before our Labor Day weekend gig.

On any other week, I would have found a sub. But I was called away that week for a family emergency in California. On such short and shitty notice, there was just no way — practical or emotional — for me to cover his spot. It broke my heart to let the club owner down: she was going through a major life crisis herself. It was a real low point for me.

The good news is that I had already started playing with our longtime neighbor and friend Bela. At our last two open mic shows, she and I had done mini sets featuring her on vocals, with her on bass and me on guitar.

On Sunday, September 21, 1-4pm, I will be returning to my beloved Emmit’s Place in southwest Houston for our kid-friendly open mic. No cover.

Our new band, Bela and the Bangers, will be headlining. And in even better news, the Rhythmix, a band of middle school jazz cats will be returning as well! We are also expecting some special guests (stay tuned).

And if that’s not enough to get you off your butt and out on the dance floor, the incredible Evelyn Rubio will be sitting in with the Bangers on sax. She’s AMAZING!

It’s going to be a fantastic time, with kid-friendly food and mocktails as well as adult drinks for the grownups.

We hope to see you there! Thanks for supporting local businesses and local music. Emmit’s is a cherished community resource and the club needs us now more than ever.

What a thrill for an intrepid wine blogger to present a super sexy flight of Abruzzo wines together with one of our city’s top sommeliers last night!

That’s Mark Sayre (left), not only the wine director at Milton’s, the hottest Italian in the city right now, but also my first friend in Texas.

Mark was the wine director at the Four Seasons in Austin when I moved there to be with Tracie. The bar at the hotel became our clubhouse and Mark and his colleagues were all rooting for us to make it. When I look back on those magical days, I can’t help but think how differently it could have gone if I didn’t have the support of my friends. Today, 17 years later, I’d say it worked out pretty damn well!

I’ve been working as the Abruzzo consortium U.S. ambassador for more than three years now. But this event didn’t spring from my gig.

It was thanks to Mark and his literally insatiable curiosity which led him to put together a dream flight of these compelling wines. Mark’s never been to the region (I hope to remedy that!). But through his sheer will and deep-dive study, he has become a true scholar of Abruzzo viticulture.

The coolest thing is that his passion for Abruzzo was born out of tasting the wines. No matter how strong your marketing game (and Abruzzo has been upping their game for more than a few years now), if you don’t have quality and personality, your wines are never going to find their way to the hip wine lists.

My family ate dinner at a family event at Milton’s last week and the food and service was fantastic. It was so rewarding for me to return to speak about wines I also feel passionately about.

Last night’s event was sold out as is tonight’s, where I’ll also be presenting. I can’t wait.

Thanks again, Mark, for the nearly two decades of wonderful friendship and for giving the wine world a bright guiding light — driven by intellectual and aesthetic curiosity.

Photos by Pop Ratio.

Arguably the most interesting thing overheard by an intrepid wine blogger at TexSom this year was the following.

Wine sales are down, observed one speaker at a break-out session. But natural wine sales continue to stay steady. We need to start looking at natural wine as a way to answer the current demand for wine.

This was followed by something said wine blogger never thought they would hear uttered by a leading U.S. wine professional, words spoken by someone who runs a high-end wine program in an upscale market.

I don’t mind giving my guests a wine that I find defective if that’s what they want. I now have a natural wine by-the-glass on my list, they said.

Wow. I mean, just wow!

Beyond my own mixed feelings about natural wine, I believe that the wine industry passed up and over a golden opportunity when the category began to take shape in the U.S. in the late 2000s.

Natural wine remains the one partition of the trade that continues to attract younger people.

Just think about it: if I offer my 21-year-old Californian niece a by-the-glass of a natural wine and a glass of conventional wine at the same time, which is she going to lean toward? It’s a no-brainer.

Leaving discussion of what is natural wine? (and what is conventional wine?) aside, wine called “natural” is the only growing part of the business.

But now our community faces an even more daunting issue: tariffs are eliminating the small businesses that brought those wines to the U.S. If U.S. trade policy doesn’t change, it’s conceivable and even probable that many natural wine importers will shutter in the next 12 months. We’ll just have to see who’s still standing after OND — October, November, December, the trimester when 50 percent of all wines sales happen in this country.

Will big wine step up to the challenge? At least one leading one professional — one who people listen to — is calling for change.

Above: a cellar-full of high-end Italian wine at a leading Italian restaurant in Florida. All Italian wines are now being taxed with a 15 percent tariff. There are no indicators that the Trump administration will lift those levies in the near or even distant future.

UPDATE: Times reporting confirms that wine and spirits will not be exempt from tariffs as final details of negotiations emerge. See article here.

In case you missed it, the Times reported this week that current tariff negotiations between the E.U. and U.S. will not make an exemption for wines and spirits shipped from Europe: “alcohol is still not part of the agreed-upon deal, and it increasingly appears that European negotiators are giving up on getting an exemption into this round of negotiations.”

The news has been greeted with gloom: “European producers have warned that the consequences of leaving alcohol tariffs at 15 percent could be grave. The Federation of French Wine and Spirits Exporters had previously said a failure to secure an exemption would create an ‘extremely violent shock.'”

Click here to read the Times reporting.

It’s certainly too early to determine whether or not the tariffs will prompt Americans to buy more U.S.-grown wine.

Gauging from everything I read and the conversations I’ve had with wine growers in California, the U.S. wine industry is definitely in need of help. Wine sales are declining overall, labor costs for the fall harvest are expected to rise (because of lack of workers due to immigration raids), and tariffs are inflating the prices of materials (corks and bottles, for example) and tools domestic winemakers buy from Europe (quite a bit from Italy where things like top-of-the-line bottling machines are produced among other instruments).

I’m heading to Dallas tonight to lead a few talks at TexSom and I’ll be back again next week to pour at a few walk-arounds. I’m really looking forward to connecting with wine professionals from across the country and the world. I’ll report back on what I learn.

Thanks for the support and solidarity. Drink some Italian wine tonight, folks! Help support the growers who have been sending such great wines since the Italian wine renaissance took shape in this country two decades ago.