Above: My friend Paolo Pasini who makes wine in Valtènesi e Lugana.

It felt like there was electricity in the air at this week’s Slow Wine tour stop in Austin.

After a two-year hiatus (for the reasons we all too well), the tour finally came back to Texas.

Above: Valentina Di Camillo who makes wine at I Fauri in Chieti. I never knew that she was a concert pianist! We actually talked about pianos and not wine. She’s great.

Folks from both sides of the Atlantic were eager to connect, reconnect, and most importantly, do business.

And the Italians were all geeked to go out for BBQ, Tex Mex, and some old-fashioned honkytonking.

Above: Kevin Natoli who sells wine in the U.S. for G.D. Vajra.

It was cool to chat with Carlo Veronese, the director of the Oltrepò Pavese consortium.

Not only did he have a great flight of wines with him. He also had a sheet that listed their availability in Texas. We can use more Oltrepò in the U.S.!

Above: Oltrepò is a category that only has room to grow in America.

It was also wonderful to see some of the old Austin wine crew.

Tracie and I lived in the capital for six years and she worked in the wine industry before Georgia was born. Lila Jane was born in Austin, too.

Above, from left: our friends Sadao Nelson from Local Source Beverage and Craig Collins from Vintus.

As much as we’ve all found new ways to do realtime business on video calls, there’s nothing like the real thing.

Thanks to Slow Wine for coming to Texas. With all the challenges we are facing these days, I know what a Herculean task that was. Thank you for making it happen. Safe travels to all.