Updated Feb. 28

A week from tomorrow tonight at the Post Oak Hotel, I’m putting myself on the auction block to benefit the Alliance Française de Houston. In fact, you’ll get two chances to sip and swirl with me and find out, up close and personal, if indeed I do have good taste in wine.

We’ll be celebrating the first 100 years of the Alliance chapter in Houston and the start of our second century — le deuxième siecle, as the French would say — with a black-tie- optional gala featuring all the things you associate with these fund-raising fetes including both silent and live auction items. In my role as president of the board of directors, I’ve been made a co-host of the latter, so I’ll be twice standing up in front of our guests and asking them to spend their hard-earned money for the “privilege” of sharing some of my favorite wines.

I know . . . What could possibly go wrong? Well, worst case, I can bid on myself, although I do hate drinking alone.

Seriously, this is going to be an extraordinary evening of super food (I’ve tasted through the menu and can guarantee there’s no rubber chicken in the mix!) paired with excellent wines in a gorgeous ballroom at Houston’s only five-star hotel. As I type this, I’m delighted to report that just three individual tickets at $250 each remain to be sold so please don’t hesitate to reach out with your credit cards and join the party. Purchases can be made online at http://alliancehouston.org or by dropping a check off at our building, 427 Lovett Blvd., in the heart of Montrose.

The Alliance has for decades brought Houston’s Francophones and Francophiles together through language classes and cultural events, but recent years have been difficult for us in large part because of the pandemic. Although online learning kept most of our students in the fold, income from tastings, concerts, lectures, et. al, and renting our home to other organizations largely dried up just when our also century-old abode began needing a major facelift. Recently, for example, the plaster ceiling in our reception area suddenly came crashing down. Zut alors! Fortunately, no one was in the room at the time.

Needless to say, proceeds from the gala will be largely targeted toward infrastructure repairs and upgrades. To date, we’ve been trying to not spend money we don’t have, but hopefully this soiree will help us turn the corner.

My auctioned tastings (one featuring a lineup of my favorite roses as summer approaches) will be held at Ruggles Black on West Alabama and Porta’Vino on Washington Avenue just north of 1-10. Chef Bruce Molzan at the former and restaurateur Bill Floyd at the latter have long been great — and generous — friends. But a number of other restaurants have offered tasting dinners for auction, including Artisan’s Jacques Fox, who has agreed to be the official chef of the Alliance Française de Houston. Our official purveyor of French goods, the French Farm (http://thefrenchfarm.com), will be prominent in the auction mix, too.

The evening’s wines, still and sparkling, have been generously donated by two board members who also happen to be board members, Jean-Francoise Bonneté (http://bonnete.com) and Douglas Skopp (http://dionysusimports.com). Both have outstanding portfolios as you’ll see by perusing their websites. The cocktail hour starts at 6:30 p.m. Come join the fun and raise a glass, or several, to the beautiful French language and France’s wonderful culture.

Viva Italy, too!

Yep, I’m by-cultural. In late May and early June as many of you may know because, yes, it has been mentioned in this space before, I’m leading a lovely 10-day tour through the heart of Italy’s Piemonte wine country, my favorite wine region on the planet and a place I’ve visited frequently for nearly 30 years.

Our home base for four nights in the Langhe will be the elegant Relais Luigi
Einaudi, which sits on a panoramic hilltop above the town of Dogliani, one of
the region’s hidden gems. (Better still, the Einaudi winery sits right next
door.) From there, we’ll visit two Ceretto venues, the hilltop headquarters in
San Cassiano just west of Alba and the flagship Bricco Roche estate, with its
landmark glass Cube designed and constructed by the same firm responsible for
the Pyramid at the Louvre in Paris.

Note that the Cerettos, great personal friends of mine since the mid-1990s, are
partners with rock-star chef Enrico Crippa at Piazza Duomo, one of the world’s
greatest restaurants where we’ll lunch after a morning visit to the historic
Pio Cesare cellars nearby. The older section dates to the late 19th century and
the cavernous space is split by a 2,000-year-old Roman wall. Pio Cesare is
uniquely situated, being the only winery in Alba proper.

 

The sumptuous lunch at Piazza Duomo will be one of at least three that will be
prepared by chefs possessing Michelin stars. Another, Guido, located at the
Fontanafredda winery, has a storied history and personal memories that I’ll be
excited to share with you. In route to Lake Como, where we will spend a night, we
will also have a catered lunch at the magnificent Airbnb owned by the Amistà
Winery in Nizza, the happening new DOCG that was carved out of the Barbera
d’Asti DOC in 2014.   

On Thursday, May 23, we’ll convene in Turin, which I got to know well while
covering the 2006 Winter Olympics for the Houston Chronicle, and we’ll wrap up
our grand adventure in Milan on Saturday, June 1 with a sumptuous farewell
dinner. Heading to Milan, we’ll make a detour to Franciacorta’s bubbles
country, too, in order to taste at the spectacular Ca del Bosco property.

 And, before we hit the wine trail, we’ll be taking a detour up and over the Alps
into my neighborhood, the Ubaye Valley (http://ubaye.com),
for a special late-afternoon dinner with my great friend, chef Hubert Longeron,
at his gîte in one of France’s most remote and breathtakingly beautiful
corners.

The cost is $7,750 per person, all-inclusive once you step off the plane. Registration can be handled through http://gourmettours.biz.

Here are links to some of our stops:  

WINERIES

Amistà: http://amistapiedmontwine.com

Bruno Rocca: http://www.brunorocca.it

Ca del Bosco: http://cadelbosco.com

Ceretto: http://www.ceretto.com

Domenico Clerico: www.domenicoclerico.com

Oddero: http://www.oddero.it

Pio Cesare: http://piocesare.it

Poderi Luigi Eiunadi: http://www.poderieinaudi.com

 HOTELS

Relais Luigi Einaudi (Dogliani): http://www.relaiseinaudi.com

Villa Morelia (Jausiers, France): http://villa-morelia.com

RESTAURANTS (*Michelin stars)

***Piazza Duomo: http://piazzaduomoalba.com

*Massimo Camia (La Morra) : http://massimocamia.it

*Guido (Serralunga): http://guidoristorante.it

Le Quattro Stazione (Saluzzo): http://le-sanssouci.com

Sans Souci (Jausiers): le-sans-souci.com

Ristorante Moda (Monforte d’Alba): http://modavenue.eu

La Locanda del Sorriso (Dogliani): http://lalocandasorriso.com

Tratorria Il Risorgimento (Treiso): http://risorgimento.yolasite.com

La Piola: http://lapiola-alba.it

 OTHER

Wine Museum (Barolo): http://wimu.barolo.it: We’ll visit on Monday morning, May 27, for big-picture purposes and to give everyone a chance to take a stroll through the town of Barolo.

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

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

Orin Swift Wine Dinner: 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 29, at Kiran’s. $195. 713-960-8472  info@kiranshouston.com

Wine Tasting & Pasta Celebrating Black & Women’s History: 11 a.m. Saturday, March 2, at 2515 Harvard St. $10. http://eventbrite.com

Instagram: http://@sportywineguy

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Facebook: Dale Robertson

Podcast: Sporty Wine Guy, wherever you get your podcasts. That’s me with my sidekick Jeremy Parzen above.  

Friends of mine to follow

Sandra Crittenden: http://winelifehousthon.com

Russ Kane: http://vintagetexas.com

Jeffrey Kralik: http://drunkencyclist.com

Katrina Rene: http://thecorkscrewconcierge.com