baucoin

For your wife, let her try Hampton water rose, you can find it at total wine for pretty cheap, less than $20 a bottle. It's a wine made by Jon Bon Jovi and his son, it's a great summer wine, not sweet at all, heavy in strawberry, and just an easy and approachable wine to get people who 'don't like wine' to drink.

As for the reds for you, if you're used to cabs and fuller bodied pinots, for France i'd definitely look into some Cotes, you can find some cheaper cote du rhones that would fit your palate, for me they were the intermediary between cabernet and different styles of red wine. The catch is a lot of French reds definitely need to be decanted and need to sit for probably an hour or more to fully open up. Or not, the cheaper bottles really won't matter too much.
Here are a couple good cheaper ones
-Mousset Sainte Cecile Les Vignes Cotes Du Rhone Villages
-Domaine Mousset Les Garrigues Cotes Du Rhone Villages
-Halos De Jupiter Costieres De Nimes Rouge

Bordeaux's can be interesting but really hard to find older vintages and also really expensive.

It's Louisiana, it's going to change 30 times before Saturday

I heavily disagree, it's hilarious how people think there's this mystical fog you step through between December and August. A bad NFL team is bad. That 2019 team was very good.

I remember people saying that the 0-16 Browns team would beat LSU, which is laughable. Half of that browns team were bad players, and there was only a couple guys who were worth even anything. 2019 LSU would get stomped by a good NFL team. A bad one? LSU has a chance. A terrible one and LSU wins outright. We already know that great talent means nothing when the staff is garbage, why should that be any different between college and the NFL?

Hell even GT America races are awesome, even if you don't know the guys, the cars sound great and the racing can be great. Cool that it's looking like GT America will continue coming down to NOLA Motorsports for a bit. And the super trofeo usually travel with them so there's a ton of stuff to see and do, just wish NOLA was better fitted with some grandstands

Almost definitely Audi, they'd just announce a zhou extension like Yuki's was announced, just release a statement saying so, they wouldn't put a hype date for it

If you do plan to stay in the city, 100% stay in San Niccolo, and don't be afraid to leave the area around the Duomo, in the south of the city you'll have a lot more of a local feel with some better restaurants and cool squares. Be prepared to walk, and walk, and walk, it's not uncommon to walk 20-30 minutes to dinner due to how the driving zones and parking are in the city. Plus it's nice as an american to experience a true walking city. Don't be afraid to pick a restaurant far away from your hotel to have that experience. Take it slow, stop for espresso/gelato, or a negroni/spritz.
Some of the most enjoyable times I had in Florence were just casual strolls enjoying the city.

For the surrounding area, look into driving to the cinque terra, rent a fiat for the day and go, a short and very enjoyable ride. Hell, you could spend a few days just hitting all of the surrounding villages like portofino, sienna, bologna, etc.