…you go.

I like to think that I have lived a life without regrets, but I certainly have a few: passing on an end of the season dinner with my teammates when I was playing basketball (and sometimes studying) in France; not making it to Dubrovnik before the war; and not attending my good friends’ wedding however many years ago in New Orleans.

Although I have been to 49 of the 50 states, it was not until we moved to Houston and the boys and I made the drive down from Philadelphia, that I visited New Orleans. Given my French background and my love of food, I am embarrassed to admit that it took me that long to visit one of this country’s prominent cultural cities.

Every city is, of course, unique, but New Orleans, at least in my opinion, is an outlier. No other city in the U.S. has such a rich history of cultures, food, music, and down right craziness than New Orleans. And I really can’t believe that I have not visited more often.

A couple of weeks ago, however, I received a call from a good friend in the wine business who was going to be pouring his wines at Wine Spectator’s Grand Tour in New Orleans. He indicated that he had an extra V.I.P. ticket and asked if I wanted to go.

Um. Yeah.

A few years prior, a different good friend in the wine business had an extra V.I.P. ticket to the Wine Spectator New York Wine Experience which he offered me and I gladly attended.

While I am not a big fan of huge walk-a-round wine tastings, the Wine Spectator events are different as some of the best wines from around the world are always represented. No where else that I know of, can one taste dozens of some of the best wines in the world.

So of course I was going to New Orleans.

Even though it was not needed to sweeten the pot, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (or simply “Jazz Fest”) was also that weekend and my pal suggested we could hit that up the following day as well.

You had me at hello.

New Orleans is a scant six hour drive from Houston without traffic. The Wine Spectator event started at 6:00 pm, so I left at 10:00 am, giving me a solid eight hours to make the drive, check into the hotel, shower, and then get my drink on.

No problem.

If the drive had been “without traffic” that is.

I showed up at 5:45 and had to climb up to the tenth floor with the valet to park my loaner from Tesla (Teslas use your phone as the car “key” and the loaner did not come with a “valet key”), which resulted in me being a sweaty mess, then I had to wait in line at check in behind “that” guy who had to ask about 37 times questions (where’s the pool? ice machine? dog relief area? how do I get some of those beads?).

Undeterred, I found my room, took a quick shower, and made it downstairs (luckily, I had the forethought to book a room at the “official” hotel of the tasting) in time for the doors to open.

As a rule, I hit sparkling wines first at big tastings and this Charles Heidsieck was top-notch.

And I was excited to see a new cuvée from Nino Franco, my favorite Prosecco producer.

Stopping by the Domaine Carneros booth was a must (even though my pal Remi was not there).

It is fairly rare to see still rosé at these big tastings, but when it is Garrus in magnum, you stop and try the best rosé in the world.

There were, of course, a ton of reds, too, but this Corton Grand Cru was my favorite. By far.

The following day was Jazz Fest which features great music, huge crowds…

…and one of my all-time favorite artists, Robert Cray, still killing it at 72.

My partner in crime was the incomparable OG, Chris O’Gorman of Rodney Strong.

After a bit of a scramble to find a dinner spot, we had a great meal with two fabulous wines.

After a stroll through Bourbon Street…

…the OG got us tickets to one of the many after Jazz Fest performances, which was headlined by Cyril and Ivan Neville. The show, however, was stollen by Big Chief Bo Dollis. Whoa.

A big thanks to the OG for including me! I am already planning my next trip back to the Big Easy….