The 2023 Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo commences Tuesday. It will run for nearly three weeks, ending March 19. There will be a livestock show and rodeos, of course, but also a concert series featuring such entertainers as Bun B’s Southern Takeover, Machine Gun Kelly, The Chainsmokers, Ashley McBryde, Kenny Chesney and Luke Bryan.
The weather forecast calls for highs in the 70s and 80s, with little chance of showers, and no snow. Perfect for the exposition’s wine garden. At the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, wine plays an increasingly significant role in the event’s overall goal, which is to raise money for college scholarships for Texas youths – some $260 million in educational underwriting has been generated over the past six decades.
The nearly 80 wines to be available in the wine garden all won awards in last fall’s Rodeo Uncorked!, the livestock show and rodeo’s international wine competition, which I helped judge.
The sweepstakes round at Rodeo Uncorked! only looks chaotic; there really is a system to organizing and whittling all the candidates.
Availability of gold-medal winners no doubt had something to do with the makeup of the list, but beyond that the selection looks as if it were drawn up by rodeo folk well aware of what Texans appreciate in wine these days. Big blocks are devoted to Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, but Pinot Noir and sparkling wines also form substantial sections. The section devoted to random reds is dominated more by blends than varietal wines, recognition, perhaps, that consumers are drifting away from a fixation on grape variety and are increasingly comfortable with proprietary blends dominated by no one grape. Curiously, Malbec has its own section, maybe reflecting a sense that Malbec, especially Argentine Malbec, can be as an agreeable partner with beef as Cabernet Sauvignon, long the go-to wine in Texas when a succulent steak is heading to the table. Oddly, just one Zinfandel is on the list, the Derby Wine Estates 2017 Paso Robles “The Maneater” Zinfandel ($14 the glass, $62 the bottle).
The lack of a single Syrah/Shiraz on the list is perplexing, especially given the pleasure that our panel found when we judged a class of 36 of them priced up to $25. We gave five of them gold medals, not a high proportion, but they stood out for their transparency, layering and balance. Our class champion turned out to be a California wine, the beefy and barbed Klinker Brick 2020 Lodi Farrah Vineyard Syrah, fat with saturating dark fruit and sweet oak.
Overall, however, the Syrah/Shiraz class ran strongly to releases from Australia, struggling to regain its footing in the American wine market. Given that, given the price of the category, and given the authority of so many of the Australian entries, now would be a good time to give more attention to Shiraz from Down Under.
Look for these releases especially, all of which earned “gold” on my judging sheets: The Kangarilla Road 2018 McLaren Vale Shiraz, all bacon and blueberry, with enough eucalyptus to delight a colony of koala; the Wakefield Estate 2019 South Australia Shiraz, lean and tight, its bright fruit threaded with suggestions of olives and eucalyptus; the MadFish 2017 Western Australia Shiraz, animated, hearty, balanced and loaded with black pepper; the Scheid Estate 2019 Barossa Valley Shiraz, a gentle take on the variety, but smoky, complex and persistent, its fruit all fresh morning blueberries; the Mount Langi Ghiran 2020 Cliff Edge Grampians Shiraz, for those who expect a generous sprinkling of black pepper with the variety’s characteristically rich fruit and long finish; the Barossa Valley Estate 2020 Barossa Valley Shiraz, bacon with a side of elegance; and the Sister’s Run Winery 2020 McClaren Vale Epiphany Vineyard Shiraz, an exceptionally sleek, supple and savory take on the variety.
Another class of wines that turned out to be especially pleasurable at Houston last fall consisted of Chardonnays priced between $35 and $45, all of which had been fermented in oak barrels or aged in oak or both. We judged 38 of them, and gave gold medals to 18, an exceptionally high proportion for any style of wine, but they so clearly and energetically said Chardonnay, with less of the oak that so often smothers the variety’s fruit.
Two of the entries were “spontaneous” double-gold Chardonnays, meaning that all five judges on our panel voted gold without any debate. Both wines were from Sta. Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County, something of a surprise. Not that Sta. Rita Hills isn’t recognized for fine Chardonnay, but the field drew entries from several appellations just as recognized for the variety, including Russian River Valley, Santa Lucia Highlands and Sonoma Coast.
At any rate, the two spontaneous double-gold wines were the Ferris & Fletch 2020 Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay, which swung across the palate with resounding suggestions of tropical fruit, and the Fess Parker 2020 Sta. Rita Hills Ashley’s Chardonnay, also from the tropical-fruit section of the produce department, but with more richness, though sleek in build, giving it a vivaciousness rare for the breed. Both wines fairly shouted of the clean and clear fruit that Chardonnay can express when the grapes are grown in a fitting setting and then treated with respect.
Other double-gold Chardonnays in the class were the lean and stony Trefethen Family Vineyards 2020 Oak Knoll District Chardonnay, the ripe and sweetly fruity Daou 2020 Santa Barbara County “Bodyguard” Chardonnay (ultimately, our class champion), and the floral and breezy Nice 2020 Lodi “Grace” Chardonnay.
Back to the wine garden in Houston, several Northern California wines are on the list, including some from panels on which I sat, including the big, lively and mouth-filling Gloria Ferrer NV Sonoma Brut ($8 the glass, $36 the bottle at the wine garden). (Though not on the wine-garden menu, another California sparkling wine to watch for in the market generally is the spirited and classically structured Angels & Cowboys NV California Brut, our class champion out of the 12 sparkling wines we judged at Houston; what’s more, the assured and vital Angels & Cowboys NV California Brut Rosé, based on Pinot Noir, was crowned the best pink sparkling wine at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition in January.)
In addition to the Klinker Brick Syrah, wines from the greater Sacramento area on the Houston wine list invariably are from Lodi and the Sacramento/San Joaquin River Delta: The Bogle 2019 California Essential Red; The Crusher 2019 California Petite Sirah; the Oak Farm Vineyards 2020 Lodi Red Blend; and the Michael David 2020 Lodi Earthquake Cabernet Sauvignon.
After this winter in Sacramento, and given the balmy weather forecast for Houston, I am tempted to book a flight to livestock show and rodeo…and wine garden.
To learn where my book “The Signature Wines of Superior California” can be purchased, please visit my website, SignatureWines.us.