I am so bummed to miss my longtime friend, the epic wine writer Ray Isle, when he comes to Houston week after next for a couple of events promoting his book.

That’s Ray, above, executive wine editor for Food & Wine, and Alicia Lini when we all connected in NYC at the beginning of this year.

Man, I’ve known Ray since we were first coming up in the wine writing business. We were both contributing at the time to Gastronomica. And we both shared a deep interest in literature that overlapped with food and wine media. What a time it was to be in the city back then! The culinary hegemony was shifting from French to Italian and the global wine renaissance was taking shape more swiftly than any could document.

Ray’s been a great friend to me and I was thrilled to be able to give him a hand with a translation of Luigi Veronelli he needed for the opening of his book The World in a Wine Glass. (Thanks for the shout-out, Ray!)

Ray is one of coolest and chillest high-profile wine writers I know. He always makes time and space for everyone around him and he always approaches our shared subject matter with élan and grace. I highly recommend him and the book to you!

I’m so bummed I’ll be missing him: he’s doing a dinner at Marigold on Wednesday, November 13, and a reading and tasting at Stella’s on Thurs., Nov. 14. Look out for a link on the Marigold site for the dinner, email postoakhotel@nextjenpr.com to reserve for the reading and tasting.

Ray will be coming the same week that Michelin is announcing its rankings for Houston! The whole town is abuzz with speculations and predictions these days. Houston, which also happens to be Ray’s hometown, has been waiting for this moment for more than a decade. It’s a biggie.

And me? Ray won’t be here yet, but that week I’m…

– playing two sets at Vinsanto in Houston with Katie White on Sun., Nov. 10, from 4-6 p.m.
– presenting Niklas Foradori of Hofstätter at Vinsanto on Mon., Nov. 11, from 7-8:30 p.m.
– presenting Niklas again at 3 Parks in Atlanta on Tues., Nov. 12, from 5:30-7 p.m.

Please come out for the music, the wine, the people, and the book!