I’ve fortuitously crossed paths of late with Houstonians who have entered the wine-making ranks from very different places. Although they are still novices relatively speaking, they’re doing it right and making excellent, big-league albeit small-production wines. I hope to be writing about them in much greater detail going forward, but I wanted them on everyone’s radar screen today.

First, meet Julie Fette and Luc Messier, pictured above. They launched their Domaine Messier (http://domainemessier.com) in the fall with a rose, a chardonnay and a pinot noir made from fruit grown on their own property in Carmel Valley. Considering the vines are only three years old, these first-vintage-release wines are extraordinary. The pink pinot noir is one of the most elegant I’ve sampled in a long time.

Domaine Messier, they explain on their website, “is not only a part of our true namesake—“messier” means guardian of the harvest in old French—but it also bears the name of the astronomer, Charles Messier. It is from his catalogue of Messier Objects, 110 nebulae and star clusters, that we draw inspiration for our vineyard and winery. Emblazoning each bottle of Domaine Messier wine, you will find artfully interpreted images of Messier Objects which correspond with each vintage produced.

“Our first vintage for 2022 begins with Messier 22, an elliptical globular cluster of stars located in the constellation of Sagittarius. Each vintage will be inspired by its corresponding Messier Object, and the labels will be inspired by NASA images for that Object. Soon we expect to enjoy astounding perspectives of Messier Objects from the James Webb Space Telescope. After 88 years of wine production, the cycle will reset to Messier 1.”

After 88 years? Well, they seem to be in this for the long haul.

Originally from New Jersey, Fette is a Fulbright Scholar and a tenured professor of French at Rice University. Messier has enjoyed a remarkable corporate career in a variety of roles, having landed in Houston as a then-senior Conoco-Phillips executive. Having un-retired in 2022, he’s currently COO for Enerkem, a cutting-edge, Canada-based waste recycling company, so he’ll be doing a bit of commuting between Houston and Montreal for at least the near term.

But the person he most looked-up to as a boy growing up in Quebec was his grandfather, Joseph, a farmer. And what is wine-growing but farming?

Both coming off divorces, Fette and Messier met in Houston a little over a decade ago and it was truly love at first sight. They, of course, had a shared love of wine, too, and that made their project a no-brainer pursuit.

Full disclosure: Their intention is to move to the Carmel area when she retires, But, for the moment, they are proud and happy Houstonians. They have made a lot of friends here. About 100 will be convening in a couple weeks for a private release party. However, the wines are already available through the above website.

Then there’s Jennifer Rossi. A Houston native and a graduate of Memorial High School in Spring Branch, Rossi first identified wine as something intriguing when she and some of her Vassar classmates visited a winery near the university in upstate New York to celebrate her 21st birthday. It only offered pinot noirs, but each was very distinctive and that piqued her interest in this winemaking thing.

After returning to Houston and earning her MBA at Rice (where she became president of the wine club), then marrying and landing a job as a management consultant for Sendero, she still couldn’t get the wine thing out of her head. So Rossi began her studies in 2016 at The Texas Wine School, soon completing WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) levels 1,2, and 3, French Wine Scholar and Texas Specialist of Wine. She also finished the Winemaking Certificate program offered through Texas Tech University and began making homemade wine, with a huge assist from Brock Estes, the owner of Fly Gap Winery in Mason, and major moral support from her husband Drew, a periodontist.

That experiment gave birth to what became The Cause Urban Winery (http://causeurbanwinery.com) in 2020. Right, at the height of COVID. But that freed up her day-job schedule because she began working remotely, giving her more time to spend mapping out a course in wine. And, speaking of giving birth, Rossi is seven months pregnant with her first child. Yes, the wine business must go on a temporary hiatus starting this summer.

But hopefully during her down time the winery and tasting room the Rossis are building out in a repurposed buidling at 6200 Stillman, near the intersection of I-10 and Wescott, will be finished. To date, she has been making her wines at John Rivenburgh’s Kerrville Hills wine incubator, a communal space for aspiring vintners like Jenn and also grape growers, which she doesn’t intend to be.

Nor does she need to be because she has been able to source some excellent Texas fruit, although some years are more complicated regarding same than others. Making wine in Texas takes lots of courage and capital — she freely admits she became her own the winemaker because she didn’t have the cash to hire an experienced one — but Rossi couldn’t be more upbeat about her prospects going forward.

A lot of folks are rooting for her, too, because of how she has structured her company. It supports five great local causes, each of them assigned to a specific wine. For every bottle sold, at least $1 goes to the Memorial Park Conservancy, (2021 Alta Semita Mourvèdre); the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center (2022 Caprifolia Trebbiano), the Houston Area Women’s Center (2021 Vai Avanti Rosé of Mourvèdre); Scout’s Honor Rescue (2021 Skýlos Viognier) and the Houston Food Bank (2020 Cura Annonae Petite Sirah). The latter, her original release, was a bit funky on the first taste, but it opened up splendidly over the course of a couple hours.

You can meet Rossi and taste at the Rice Village Farmers Market on Sunday, March 19, from 9 a.m. through noon. You’ll find her delightful.

H-Town happenings

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

Tastings Every Saturday at TuttiLili: Noon-5 p.m. Free. http://tuttilili.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

Houston Rodeo Uncorked Wine Winners: 6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 16, at JMP Wines Tasting Room. $75 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