Which is to say, in Italian, the whole world is a country, and a small one at that. The last time Jeremy Parzen and I convened for a podcast, I brought up a favorite new wine of mine, the Smith-Madrone Riesling, which you read about in my most recent “Sippin’ with Sporty” blog. Well, as it happens, Julie Ann Kodmur, who is married to Stu Smith — yep, the Smith in Smith-Madrone — grew up in the same La Jolla neighborhood where Parzen’s family lived. In his words, she “was like a big sister to me.” And, he added, “Julie Ann was just enough older than me to be my baby-sitter.”

Damn.

But then last week I received an email from the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo announcing the winners of its International Wine Competition. In a field of 2,985 wines representing 22 countries, Smith-Madrone’s 2018 Riesling had earned Reserve Grand Champion honors.

Damn again.

Full disclosure: Best as I can recall, I’d somehow never crossed paths with a Napa Valley riesling — never mind one that made me say, “Wow!” — before my fortuitous meeting with the Smith-Madrone, which drinks like a great Alsatian or Mosel riesling.

The fruit grows on the vertiginous Spring Mountain above St. Helena, a place I’d always associated with chardonnay because of the historic Stony Hill Winery located nearby. And you can’t get any higher on Spring Mountain than Smith-Madrone, whose vines grow at elevations of 1,200 to 1,900 feet — and above the fog line, as shown above.

Stuart Smith took a hike through the forests up there in 1970. It was love at first sight, and height. In only a year’s time, he had founded his winery and, in 1973, brother Charlie came on board. (The Smiths are pictured here.) The first vintage put in the bottle was 1977. And, in 1996, Stuart and Kodmur were married. A year later, she launched the marketing/consulting firm (http://julieannkodmur.com) that she still runs all by her lonesome.

So who’s Madrone, you ask? It’s neither a he nor a she but rather a tree species that grows prolifically on Spring Mountain.

Kodmur apologizes for not remembering anything wild and crazy about her childhood friendship with Parzen. “We lived two or three blocks apart on Avenida Cresta,” she said. “Our mothers were close friends, so we saw a lot of each other. We’d go down to the tide pools . . . ride bikes . . . just had fun.” Yet, serendipitously and fortuitously, they both ended up in the business of promoting wine despite educational detours. She would earn a Master’s in art history; he a Doctorate in Italian, which he speaks fluently.

Besides, obviously, Smith-Madrone, Kodmur’s clients include Aridus, Castello di Amorosa, BARRA of Mendocino, Notre Vue Estate, Kelly Fleming Winery, Silver Trident Winery, Hawk and Horse Vineyards, Calla Lily Estate, Meyye, Appellation St. Helena, Spring Mountain District Association and, on a pro bono basis, the Sunrise Horse Rescue, Jameson Animal Rescue Ranch, Nimbus Arts and The Cameo Cinema.

I hope to visit the Smiths and Kodmur in Napa before the 2024 Rodeo (February 27-March 17) and further explore their beautiful story. Also, I haven’t been on Spring Mountain since before the disastrous 2020 Glass Fire and I will likely find it a different place than I remember with such fondness. Fortunately, Smith-Madrone suffered no catastrophic infrastructure losses unlike several of their neighbors, but their forests were devastated. And many trees that didn’t burn had to be felled to prevent future catastrophes.

Smith said of his massive logging effort after the conflagration: “It breaks my heart to do this. The area where the timber is coming from was a beautiful Douglas fir forest. Now it’s not. To protect ourselves and the mountain, we need these trees gone.”

His mantra today? “Fire-safe farming.” Brilliant. Like his riesling.

The 2024 Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition champions, determined during a weekend of judging in mid-November, are listed below. To see the medalists, go to http://rodeohouston.com/rodeo-uncorked-wine.

• Grand Champion Best of Show – Beau Joie Brut Champagne AOC, NV
• Reserve Grand Champion Best of Show – 2018 Smith-Madrone Riesling, Spring Mountain District
• Top Texas Wine – 2021 Meierstone Vineyards The Airship Red, Texas High Plains
• Top Red Wine – 2018 Marchesi di Barolo DOCG
• Top White Wine – 2022 Perissos Vineyards and Winery Winemaker’s Reserve Pape Blanc, Texas High Plains
• Top Sparkling Wine – Champagne Telmont Reserve Brut Champagne AOC, NV
• Top Dessert Wine – 2020 Quady Winery Essensia Orange Muscat, California
• Top Region Wine – 2022 TerraNoble CA1 Carmenere Andes, Colchagua Valley DO
• Top Value Wine – 2022 Animus Vinho Verde DOC
• Top Wine Company – E & J Gallo Winery
• Top Region Wine Company – Winebow Imports
• Top All-Around Winery – Nice Winery
• Top Texas Winery – Becker Vineyards
  rodeohouston.com/rodeo-uncorked-wine

The Sports Page

Raising a glass to . . . Alphonse Dotson

Russ Kane and our wives recently had a wonderful visit with Dotson, who was in Houston to check on his 105-year-old mother. Fifty years ago next May I met Dotson, who’s 80 himself now, for the first time. The Houston native had come out of retirement to play for the Houston Texans of the World Football League, which I’d been assigned to cover as a 21-year-old soon-to-be newlywed, and we hit it off straight away.

Those Texans didn’t last long — less than a full season in Houston — and I wouldn’t see Alphonse for a long while. But we reconnected years later when I found out he’d become a grape grower and winemaker in Mason County. Chardonnay from his Certenberg Vineyard helped Fall Creek Winery claim Grand Champion White Wine honors in the Rodeo’s 2017 competition. You can read the story I wrote about this remarkable achievement at https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food/article/Champion-rodeo-chardonnay-from-Texas-a-story-of-10981264.php.

Dotson is delighted to report that his mom is still sharp as a tack, and so is he, although he’s dealing with all the physical issues you would expect of an octogenarian ex-football player. Still, he insists he’s a long way from being finished as a winemaker and I believe him.

Check out what he and his lovely wife Martha have going on at http://dotsoncervanteswines.com. You’ll notice a striking similarity between his bottle label and the logo on the Raiders’ helmet. He may have also played for Kansas City, Green Bay and Miami, plus those hapless Texans, but Alphonse will always be a Raider. He loved Al Davis, and one of Davis’ ownership partners, who lived in Rutherford in the Napa Valley, was responsible for getting interested in wine.

I should also mention that Dotson’s son, Santana, was an NFL star in the 1990s and won a Super Bowl ring with the Packers.

H-Town happenings

Tastings Every Saturday at French Country Wines: Noon-5 p.m. Free. http://frenchcountrywines.com

Tastings Every Wednesday at Montrose Cheese & Wine: 5-7 p.m. Free. http://montrosecheeseandwine.com

Tastings Every Thursday at Cueva in the Marriott Marquis Houston: 6:30-7:30 p.m. $40 http://eventbrite.com

Symposium Saturdays: 4-5 p.m. at Stella’s Wine Bar in the Post Oak Hotel. $75. http://eventbrite.com

Sparkling wine tasting: 6:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15. 2515 Harvard St. Free. http://eventbrite.com

The Rado Wine Club Tasting Experience: 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, at the Rado MKT. $50. http://eventbrite.com

Texas Wine Market: Noon-4 p.m. Jan. 24. Bluebonnet Tasting Room, 401 Commerce St., Tomball, $30 presale, $40 at the door. https://checkout.square.site/merchant/MLF89X8DCFFR0/checkout/SSO7TMRRWB7F5JCKE44MGPDX

Follow me

Instagram: http://@sportywineguy

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Facebook: Dale Robertson

Podcast: Sporty Wine Guy, wherever you get your podcasts. A new one, hosted by Jeremy Parzen (yep, that’s us pictured above, sharing a bottle of Marchesi di Grésy Barbaresco in the Piemonte), will be dropping over the weekend. You can follow Parzen’s own blog at http://dobianchi.com.

Friends of mine to follow

Sandra Crittenden: http://winelifehouston.com

Russ Kane: http://vintagetexas.com

Jeffrey Kralik: http://drunkencyclist.com

Katrina Rene: http://thecorkscrewconcierge.com