The Roman writer Horace reminds us that you can chase nature away with a pitchfork, but it will always return (naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurretet).

He wasn’t referring to Nature with a capital “n” but rather the “nature of things.” In other words, a leopard can’t change their spots.

As Tracie’s career has been evolving and expanding (poo, poo, poo!) and the girls need more support with their music and studies, I’ve taken a step back from the insane amount of traveling I’ve been doing over the last four years.

But the world of wine still calls. Here are some great tastings and dinners I’m leading or working on in coming weeks.

On Friday, I’ll be giving two talks about Abruzzo at TexSom in Dallas. On Monday and Tuesday, I’ll be pouring Abruzzo at walk-around tastings at the conference. I’m really looking forward to reconnecting with some many colleagues and friends I know I’ll see. Please stop by and taste with me!

Then, in a just a few weeks, on September 3 and 4, I’ll be leading two public-facing Abruzzo wine dinners at Milton’s in Houston with my good friend and super sommelier Mark Sayre (I need to share the wonderful story of how he and I met in an upcoming post; he became one of my first friends in Austin when I moved to Texas to be with Tracie). These sell out quickly, Mark told me, and I will share the registration info as soon as I get it.

In October, dates to be determined, I will be leading an Abruzzo tour through Texas, with stops most likely in Houston, Austin, and possibly Dallas. These will be trade-focused events. I’m hoping I can convince them to do Tulsa as well (but we’ll see). Our event earlier this year in NOLA was so amazing. I know these dates will be great, too.

And then, dulcis in fundo (brush up your Latin, people!), I’ll be heading to Boulder in late October for Boulder Burgundy Festival where I’ve been a festival media consultant for 15 years (!!!).

See? You can take the wine out of the boy, but you can’t take the boy out of the wine. Hope to see you at one or all of these events. Thanks for the support and solidarity! The wine world needs you now more than ever.