Julia introduced us to Houston.  It’s a rather long, convoluted story – the bottom line is LangeTwins is now in Texas, via the fourth largest city in the USA, and the glory goes to Julia and her husband, Dr. Luke Burke.  Actually, Luke was just along for the ride – as all of us were – once we met “Julia”.

She is a force to be reckoned with!  We’d never met prior to landing on her front doorstep last Wednesday in a quiet, tree lined suburb of Houston.  Julia is a lawyer by trade and a long time friend of one of our European viticulture clients; the stars seem to align as Julia organized and pulled off three fabulous days of introductions and parties to launch LangeTwins Wines.  Julia is truly an Ambassador to LangeTwins, and we are very grateful for her energy and support.  We now consider her part of the family and anticipate she and Luke will join us to celebrate their 10th anniversary in livable, lovable Lodi at the ’09 ZINFEST!

Our Houston sales team included Randy and I, along with Kendra Jean and our National Sales Manager, Steven Folb.  The first night was the calm before the storm with a special tasting at Cova, an upscale wine shop and bar on Kirby Drive.  Cova’s staff was on-task taking care of us while we pulled corks and polished glasses for the pouring.

The Briar Club on Timmons Lane was evening number two – we were warmly greeted by about 60 of the Club members and had a chance to pour our wines, and meet some of the medical team from Luke’s hospital.  Our new wine – Generations Petit Verdot Petite Sirah with the screwtop was a big hit.

Between the on-premise pourings during the day and evening parties, Kendra had to put the older set to shame and run down to the hotel fitness center.  And, as luck would have it, she exercised with Secretary of State Condi Rice – we did notice a big group of guys with ‘wires’ in the elevator the night prior, but didn’t put it together until Kendra boasted her news.

The third night was magical as Julia combined a housewarming with a continued introduction of our wines to Houston.  And this was the night we pulled out the stops and poured a special “Texas Blend” that winemaker David Akiyoshi created just for the tour.  A big red wine, it received rave reviews from the crowd.  The challenge is to now get it officially into the bottle so our new Texas friends can enjoy the fruits of David’s talents.

Over 120 folks poured through Julia’s front door and within minutes they were introduced to our wines.  We left armed with at least 10 new Wine Club members and are hopeful to see these folks again at the “Texas Table” next fall for our annual dinner.

Not to be slighted, our other Ambassador was Stuart Folb, Steven’s older sibling.  Stuart graciously took us to variety of on-premise accounts, including T’afia on Travis Street, where Monica Pope, a James Beard Award nominee, spoiled us with some unbelievable food. In his real life, Stuart is the publisher of the Houston Press.

We’re now home trying to sort out the contacts and find a way to get our wines in the hands of our new friends in Houston.  On behalf of the entire LangeTwins Gang, a hearty thanks y’all – we’re happy to be deep in the heart of Texas and glad to count so many folks as our new friends.