Houston food and wine-lovers lost out on a lot of in-person fun over the last couple years because of COVID-19, but the parties are mercifully returning. I had a ball at Sunday night’s Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo’s Best Bites competition and I’m now looking forward to another one of my favorite gastro-oenological confabs, the eighth annual Taste of Italy, March 13-14.

Kudos to Italy-America Chamber of Commerce Texas for rallying the troops after two years of having to do everything virtually. More than 500 folks are expected to attend the various events at the Hilton Post Oak where 150 Italian brands and more than 750 Italian products will be showcased. Also returning will be a competition for local sommeliers (I’m looking forward to making my debut as a judge) that, considering the prizes at stake, figures to attract many of our best and brightest wine stewards. The champion pockets $750 and a sponsored trip to Verona to attend Vinitaly, one of the world’s most famous wine trade shows, while the runner-up collects $750 and $500 goes to third place. The Texas Wine School is also offering two scholarships on the side.

 

Kroger’s Jaime Deleon is the primary force behind the competition, which had to be shelved the last two years because of the pandemic, with help from his AwwSommHouston study group. Entrants will be tested on theory, tasting and service skills. In the inaugural competition in 2019, the Post Oak Hotel’s Danny Steiner took top honors.    

 

Panel discussions on Monday include one at 10:30 a.m. on responsible, sustainable wine-making focusing on two Umbrian producers and another at 2:30 p.m. on pairing Texas barbeque with Chiantis. My podcast partner in crime, Jeremy Parzen, heads up the morning session with me and Pappas Bros. Master Sommelier Steven McDonald joining him on the dais. Harlem Road Barbeque pitmaster Ara Malekian, Spec’s Italian wine buyer Tom Dobson and Culture Map food writer Eric Sandler are leading that talk.

 

A walk-around tasting for registered guests follows from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Information on all of the above and more can found at tasteofitalyhouston.com.

 

And, speaking of the Rodeo, the popular Wine Garden at Carruth Plaza is back in business, too, with the most highly decorated bottles from the International Wine Competition being showcased plus an excellent lineup of live music every day and terrific food-and-wine seminars most evenings from Feb. 28 through March 20. Reservations can be secured at rodeo-houston.com((where you can also peruse the Best Bites! Winners).

 

Wine lecturers include Master Sommelier/vintner Guy Stout and fellow local vintner, Ryan Levy, whose 2018 Nice Winery Cabernet Franc earned Reserve Grand Champion Best of Show honors. That’s a remarkable achievement made all the more special by the fact that, back in the day, Levy’s earning a Rodeo scholarship set him on his current life trajectory. Click on the Wine Garden link at the Rodeo web site above for the complete lineup of seminar hosts.

 

In case you missed it, the category champions are as follows:

 

* Grand Champion Best of Show – 2017 J. Lohr Vineyards Cuvee PAU Red, Paso Robles

* Reserve Grand Champion Best of Show – 2018 Nice Winery Cabernet Franc

* Top Red Wine – 2019 Three Sticks Pinot Noir, Gap’s Crown Vineyard, Sonoma Coast

* Top White Wine – 2020 Ruffino Italian Orvieto Classico DOC

* Top Sparkling Wine – 2020 Meiomi Sparkling Rosé, North Coast

* Top Dessert Wine – 2019 Pillitteri Estates Winery Vidal Icewine, Niagara-on-the-Lake VQA

* Top Value Wine – 2019 Apothic Merlot, California

* Top Wine Company – E&J Gallo Winery

* Top Region Wine Company – Ste. Michelle Wine Estates

* Top Region Wine – 2018 Revelry Vintners Limited Edition Reveler Red, Columbia Valley

* Top All-Around Winery – J. Lohr Vineyards

* Top Texas Winery – Becker Vineyards

* Top Texas Wine – Hye Meadow Winery Boooom Red, Texas High Plains, 2017

 

Sippin’ with Sporty

 

Bubbles

The Villa Sandi Prosecco family

* Villa Sandi Prosecco Superiore – Diva Moretti Polegato was in town over the weekend working to get more of her family’s delightful Villa Sandi wines into our market. (https://www.villasandi.it/en/) All that I tasted were delicious, including a new pink Prosecco, but my favorite was the winery’s higher-end bubbles from Valdobbiadene, the region’s epicenter. It’s bright and acidic with a medley of fruit flavors playing off each other and some creamy mousse to boot. $22.99 at wine.com    

 

White

* 2020 Marco Bonfante Roero Arneis Persté – Marco and his sister Micaela launched their lovely winery (marcobonfante.com) in 2000 in Ninza Monferrato across the Tanaro River from Barbaresco. The arneis grape has grown in their Roero neighborhood since the 1500s. “Persté” honors Micaela’s first son, Stefano, born in 2014 (“Persté” = per Stefano). How they can produce this good of a wine at this price point is beyond me, but a hearty “bravo!” is order. You’ll love the stone fruit notes on the nose and the fresh minerality in the glass. It’s only $9.89 at Costco. Are you kidding me? But hey, folks, please save me a couple of bottles!  

 

Rosé

* 2020 Rose Gold Côtes de Provence – I’ve added this gem from the countryside above Saint Tropez to my short list of favorites, now that it seems to be widely available around town. Dallas’ Casey Barber fell in love with Provence and its pink wines while traveling there years ago and the “affair” led to her launching the Rose Gold brand in 2018. Savory red fruit takes center stage. Spec’s price is only $17.89.

 

Red

* 2017 Allegrini Palazzo Della Torre – The Allegrinis are legendary in the hills just north of Verona, in Valpolicella country. (https://allegriniwine.com)  Three national critics have scored this vintage of the Palazzo Della Torre at least a 90 and I’m right there with them. An intensely flavored blend of corvina, corvinone, rondinella and sangiovese, it’s a steal for $16.89 at Spec’s.  

A pink, a white and a red all under $20

Sporty Wine Guy Podcast

A new one drops in the next couple of days. Parzen and I weigh in all manner of wine topics – and, sometimes, other stuff – weekly. Go to “Sporty Wine Guy” wherever you get your podcasts.     

 

H-town happenings

*March 5 – Taste of Two Legends: Morton’s and Michael David Winery. 6:30 p.m. at both Morton’s locations, downtown and in The Woodlands. $149 plus tax and gratuity. mortons.com

* March 13-14 – Taste of Italy Houston. tasteofitalyhouston.com 

                        

Follow my friends

* Sandra Crittenden (winelifehouston.com) – Sandra assesses the “undiscovered” wines of Mexico that she paired with Hugo’s cuisine.

 * Russ Kane (vintagetexas.com) Russ weighs in Thomas Volney (T.V.) Munson, a fascinating and seminal wine-world figure whom Kane suggests was Texas’ original Renaissance man.

* Jeff Kralik (thedrunkencyclist.com): Jeff offers an eclectic list of seven wines that have recently impressed him.   

* Jeremy Parzen (dobianchi.com): Jeremy provides all the pertinent facts on the aforementioned upcoming Taste Of Italy.

 

Follow me

* Twitter – @sportywineguy

* Instagram – @sportywineguy

* Facebook – Dale Robertson

Jock Shorts

* The Texans got it right in the end by hiring Lovie Smith. But they couldn’t have gotten it more wrong in how they got there. Privately, Lovie is laughing all the way to the bank. 

* Kudos to my indefatigable former Chronicle colleague Jonathan Feign for somehow making the nowhere-bound Rockets worth reading about. Note that they’re comfortably on track to posting fewer than 20 victories in back-to-back seasons, after having just one comparable death march in their previous 53 seasons.           

* Anybody missing spring training yet? I didn’t think so.