Giving a warm shout-out this morning to Vintage Wine Bar in Tulsa and the 30 wine professionals who came out to taste with Emma Baudry from the Union des Vins Doux de Bordeaux (part of the Charming Taste of Europe Campaign).

Tulsa and its wine community have enchanted me since I first came to Oklahoma for wine in 2020 (just two weeks before the closures began). Before Houston took that title in the 1970s, the city was the world’s oil capital. The pre-Reagan era brought wealth and people to this midwest outpost, once a major hub along Route 66.

Today, Tulsa’s restaurant scene is hopping and the wine culture is cosmopolitan. It reminds me of Austin when I first moved there in 2008 to be with Tracie. Like the Texans back then, people here know great wine and they are thirsty to expand the city’s wine cred.

Thank you to the wonderful staff at Vintage Wine Bar (man, the 2015 Turley Zinfandel Mead Ranch was outstanding!). And thank you to all the great folks in Tulsa who came out for the event. It was wonderful to see every seat taken! Thank you!

And, wow, as we tasted through sweet wines from Bordeaux, for a fleeting moment, I could forget about the looming news that tomorrow will bring for our industry.

Today, on the eve of Vinitaly, the Italian wine world’s main event in Verona, we are all holding our collective breath waiting for an update.

Importers with “wine on the water” are praying that their wines will be exempt from the taxes. For some, it could be ruinous if they are not excluded from the tariffs.

All are quietly hoping that their home or focus countries might be spared.

The entire supply chain is bracing for rough waters ahead, regardless of the final figure.

The one thing we all know for certain is that the uncertainty has been unbearable for our industry.

Tomorrow will tell. And as the saying goes, “tonight, there’s nothing left to do but dance.”