I’d already been contemplating re-visiting this story, knowing how hard COVID-19 had been on the restaurant industry, when Jodie Schmal, my friend and former colleague at the Chronicle, reached out, asking me to research same for her. (A classic example of great minds thinking alike!) Folks who are still doing it the right way, even after the financial hit the pandemic caused, deserve a shout-out and nobody does it better than Bill Floyd with his Porta’Vino restaurants on the western edge of the Heights and in The Woodlands. His wine pricing model is off the charts as far as being customer-friendly and he allows BYOB, too. Every time I see Bill I just want to hug him.

Bill Floyd

At any rate, I wrote the piece that follows for the Chronicle. (https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-culture/restaurants-bars/articleComments/Houston-Restaurants-Best-Wine-Deals-17666611.php) As you’ll see, we bargain-chasers aren’t as well off as we used to be, but Houston still offers much better value than probably any market in the country because of the likes of Floyd, Charles Clarke, Grant Cooper, Shawn Virene and the Brandanis out in Fort Bend County.

Years ago, chef Charles Clark first spoke of his plans for a restaurant that would offer wines at just over their retail cost, and he delivered the goods when Ibiza opened in Midtown. These days Clark presides over Brasserie 19 and, although his markups have increased of late — blame the bottom-line pain wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, he and others in the hospitality industry say — there’s still plenty of value to be found on the well-curated list.

Ditto the lists at Coppa and Flora, run by Clark’s former partner, Grant Cooper. Clark and Cooper may have parted ways, but they’re still on the same page when it comes to making customers smile rather than cringe when they’re looking for a special bottle. Their wine-pricing model inspired others including a’Bouzy’s Shawn Virene, as well as Bill Floyd, who considered their game plan a no-brainer: The lower the markup, the more bottles you’re going to sell, and your happy customers become loyal customers.

Floyd took the model to Potente, the posh spot downtown that he ran for Astros owner Jim Crane (note: prices have jacked way up there since Floyd left) before going out on his own with Porta’Vino. Flying against the pandemic grain, he broke all the old-school pricing rules with more than half of the wines on the Porta’Vino list selling for less than you would pay for them in retail, even at value-driven chains such as Spec’s and Total Wine.

And Floyd is doing this despite offering his guests the option of bringing their own wines from home. Call him the Crazy Eddie of restaurateurs, but he has done as many as 400 covers on a Saturday night at his Washington Avenue location, and a second one in The Woodlands has been a hit, too. Some of the folks who come for dinner find themselves leaving with four or five cases because of deals on wines such as Cakebread Cellars Chardonnay ($46 at Porta’Vino; $47.50 at Spec’s), Flora Springs Trilogy ($55; $81 at wine.com) and Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($79; $90 at wine.com). Silver Oak is one of the more ubiquitous on-premise wines in our area; its price range is $79 to $200 according to Somm.ai, an alcohol beverage data company co-founded by Houstonian Jeremy Hart.

Unfortunately, markups of 400-percent or more are now routinely seen after having seemingly trended downward pre-COVID. Still, thanks to Porta’Vino and the other restaurants listed below, where multiples under 250 percent tend to be the norm, Houston continues to offer better wine value than most major American markets.

a’Bouzy

Champagne and other sparkling wines rule the roost here with prices for everyone’s budget on the voluminous list, starting with a lovely Provençal sparkler, the Jacques Pelvas Grande Cuvee, for $24. Markups are mostly less than twice retail and the Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut is $64 per bottle, almost six bucks less than wine.com’s price. Prices range from $12 for a liter of Jolie Folle Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire Valley to $1,352 for a 1982 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, which is about $1,100 online. Several large-format bottles cost more. 2300 Westheimer 

Brandani’s Restaurant & Wine Bar

Ron and Claire Brandani seem to offer better value than any other suburban Houston restaurant that has a for-real wine list. Prices range from $29 for the Duchman Texas Vermentino to $1,800 for a bottle of the 2016 Harlan Estates red blend. (The latter’s tariff is only about double the cheapest online price for the legendary cult wine.) And the La Jota Howell Mountain Merlot goes for $130, compared to $110 on wine.com. 3340 FM 1092 in Missouri City 

Brasserie 19

It was a sad day when the price of one of the city’s most popular rosés, the Domaine de Mourchon Loubie, went from under to $25 to almost $50 on the list here, but most markups remain south of two-and-a-half times retail. Charles Clark’s prices now range from $28 for the Dau Sauvignon Blanc ($17 at wine.com) to $120 for the Howell Mountain Vineyards Cab, which sells for about the same online. 1962 W. Gray

Coppa Osteria

Many markups on the Italian-heavy lists are less than double, including the G. D. Varja Barolo at $84. Bottle prices start at $24 for the Col D’ Orcia Spezieri, a sangiovese-ciliegiolo blend, and the Castiglione Del Bosco Dainero, which pairs merlot with sangiovese, to $488 for two Roberto Voerzio Barolos. (Note that one of the aforementioned, the same 2017 Cerequio, is also on the list at Marmo in Montrose for $990, an almost 500-percent markup.) 5210 Morningside in Rice Village

Flora Mexican Kitchen

Cooper’s prices start at $25 for the lively Portal da Calcada Vihno Verde from Portugal. The most expensive wine is the 2012 L’Evangile from Pomerol for $295, about twice what it would retail for, and that’s the norm for most the wines on the list. Dom Perignon goes for $190 a bottle, only $30, give or take, more than retail. 3422 Allen Parkway in Buffalo Bayou Park

Giacomo’s Cibo e Vino

Most of Lynette Hawkins’ wines are less than double what they would sell for in a store or online. One example is the delicious Roagna Perpentue d’Alba at $40 per bottle, compared to $25 retail. Prices range from $20 for the Marenco Pineto Brachetto d’Acqui to $600 for Emidio Pepe’s 2000 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. The vast majority of Hawkins’ wines sell for well under $100. 3215 Westheimer

Porta’Vino

No markups are higher than 50 percent and more than half of the wines sell for less than retail. The bottle price range is $29 for several whites and sparklers to $316 for both the Shafer Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon and Opus One Red Blend. Note that the latter goes for $365 at the winery’s Napa Valley tasting room. 5610 Washington 

Post Beer and Wine

Having opened in the early days of COVID, this super-casual spot remains a bit under the radar, but its wine program and pricing deserve our attention. The most expensive bottle in the Pursued By Bear Cab from Washington State, priced at $150, is a little more than double the retail tariff. The cheapest wines are an Italian Chardonnay from Tenuta San Vito and the Yves Cuilleron Cabernet Franc from France’s Northern Rhone at $40 per bottle. 6417 N. Main

Zanti Cucina Italiana

The two locations — the original is in The Woodlands and another opened not long ago in River Oaks — have their share of overpriced wines, but there are bargains to be found, too. Consider the Gaja Sito Moresco, which is about $70 retail, costs $116; and the Jordan Chardonnay is $75, when you’d pay $42 in a shop. Prices start at $32 for the Cascina Chicco Roero Arnesi. 1958 W. Gray

Sippin’ with Sporty

Goldeneye Anderson Valley Brut Rose

Anderson Valley is arguably America’s counterpoint for Champagne and this complex bottle of pink bubbles seems to prove the point. The blend is 63 percent pinot noir with the rest chardonnay. It was crafted in the traditional method and spent 24 months en tirage. You’ll taste blood orange, honeydew and hazelnut notes, which, together, taste very, very good. $70 at http://goldeneyewinery

2020 Cuvaison Hedon Chardonnay

Made from the-best-of-the-best estate fruit in Los Carneros, where Cuvaison put down roots way back in 1969, the wine spent 18 months on the lees and was 100 percent barrel-fermented in both French and American oak, about two-thirds new. It shows beautiful balance and bright acidity. “Lush” seems the perfect descriptive adjective for Steven Rogstad’s small-lot gem. Rogstad has been in charge of winemaking at Cuvaison since 2002 so, yes, he knows his terroir. $60 at http://cuvaisonwines.com

2019 The Pact Coombsville Cabernet Sauvignon

From the folks at Faust, this cab showcases what a terrific AVA once-unheralded Coombsville has become. Bright fruit flavors combined with silky tannins and a lovely long finish make for a nearly perfect wine. James Suckling scored it a 96 while both the Wine Spectator and the Wine Advocate awarded 93s. From winemaker David Jelinek: “The Pact 2019 lives up to Faust legend with beautiful dark blueberry and blackberry aromas over layers of crushed rock minerality, haunting forest notes and hints of violet. With the texture of velvet — luxuriously dense — the palate wraps that core of blue and back fruit with the barest edge of bright cherry spiced with star anise and savory dried tarragon. Silky tannins and generous ripe fruit linger through an endless, vibrant finish. There’s a long life ahead for this Cabernet.” Suckling suggests holding off drinking until 2024, if you have the patience. I didn’t. $129 at http://wine.com

H-town happenings

Pop-Up Wine Night: 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12. Serca Wines. http://sercawines.com $35. http://eventbright.com

JMP Wine Night Featuring Orin Swift Wines: 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19. JMP Wines Tasting Room, Humble. http://jmpwines.com $70. http://eventbrite.com

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Others to follow

Jeremy Parzen (http://dobianchi.com): My podcast partner in crime looks back on a most memorable year for his family, which celebrates its first Christmas in their new Westbury home.

Sandra Crittenden (http://winelifehouston.com): Sandra suggests 10 pinot noirs you need to try now, sharing an inciteful piece she wrote for Galveston magazine.

Russ Kane (http://vintagetexas.com): The Texas Wineslinger has a “news flash” on the 2023 Texas Wine Certification courses he’ll soon be teaching at the Texas Wine School. He also takes a close look at Kerrville Hills Winery’s intriguing Teroldego. Yep, that’s a grape varietal.

Jeff Kralick (http://thedrunkencyclist.com): Jeff reports on a recent group blind tasting of North American pink sparkling wines that he conducted.

Katrina Rene (http://thecorkscrewconcierge.com): Kat offers a rundown on Texas wine world happenings during the holiday season.

The Sports Page

Pouring one out for . . . Franco Harris

I got to know Harris during the Houston Oilers’ Luv ya Blue era because the road to the Super Bowl always led through Pittsburgh, and the Hall-of-Fame running back was one of many larger-than-life Steelers who routinely wreaked havoc on the Oilers. He was also an extraordinarily nice guy. We played tennis together a couple times after he retired and he was damned good at that, too. Harris’ death at 72 this week came only days before the 50th anniversary of his “Immaculate Reception,” an impossible catch — and possibly a non-catch, too, because there were no replays then, of course — that turned into a 60-yard touchdown reception, giving the Steelers their first playoff victory since 1947 and proving a precursor to one of the most dynastic runs in NFL history. In Harris’ final AFC Championship Game seven years later, a 27-13 victory over the Oilers, he pounded 21 times for 85 yards on a day when fellow Hall-of-Famer Earl Campbell’s 17 carries netted but 15 yards. No Houston team has been that far in the postseason since, the longest drought by 10 seasons among the league’s current cities.

I’ve been asked by the Chronicle to come up with a short list of local restaurants that even in these inflationary times continue to offer serious bang for the buck when it comes to their wine pricing. As soon as that story runs in the paper’s Flavor section, I’ll post it here. But . . . spoiler alert: Far and away the best value can be found at my buddy Bill Floyd’s Porta’Vino spots in the Heights and The Woodlands. Never mind that they’re BYOB venues, too. That defines the best of both worlds!

Also, starting with my next blog, I’m going to resume letting some of our best sommeliers weigh in on their wine-list favorites as I did for many years in my weekly missive for the Chron. We’ve got too much collective wine talent in H-town to leave it voiceless. However, one of my wine colleagues is hardly voiceless. It seems that Angelo Ferrari, co-founder CEO of the Houston-based Beviamo International LLC, is also an accomplished opera singer, and the man from Brescia will be performing Tuesday night during a pairing dinner at Alba, the lovely Italian resto in the Granduca Hotel. Needless to day, I’m much looking forward to what’s certain to be one of the most unique winner dinners ever.

The eclectic, Italy-centric (obviously) Beviamo portfolio is built around boutique producers. Ferrari and I have bonded over wine, of course, but he’s also a serious cyclist, so we’ve had our share of Tour de France conversations, too.

Kudos!

Each of the wineries that make up the Texas Fine Wine group have recently copped major honors at international wine competitions:

Bending Branch Winery: Won double gold for its 2019 Estate Tannat, Lost Pirogue Vineyard at the 2022 San Francisco International Wine Competition; double gold for its 2019 Texas Cabernet Sauvignon at the 2023 Houston Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition; and double golds for its 2019 Mourvèdre, Desert Willow Vineyards and 2019 Tannat, Tallent Vineyards at the 2023 San Antonio Rodeo International Wine Competition.

Pedernales Cellars: Won two Jefferson Cups at the 2022 Jefferson Cup Invitational Wine Competition, one for its 2018 Block Zero, the most recent vintage of its merlot-cabernet sauvignon-sangiovese-tannat-malbec blend from Kuhlken Vineyards, and for its 2020 Texas High Plains Grenache. The Block Zero also won a double gold at the San Francisco International Wine Competition.

Spicewood Vineyards: Won a Jefferson Cup for its 2019 Tandem. The winery won double golds at the San Antonio Rodeo competition for its 2018 Syrah (Texas Class Champion), 2019 Tandem and 2019 The Independence.

Sippin’ with Sporty

I’ve been heavy into reds of late — tis the season — so today is a red letter day. You’ll notice a crazy price range here, but they’re all terrific for holiday gift-giving and/or imbibing.

2019 Domaine Bousquet Cabernet Sauvignon Tupungato/Uco Valley

This fruit-forward cab from organically farmed mile-high vineyards satisfies the palate and the wallet in equal parts. There wasn’t a vine in sight when third-generation winemaker Jean Bousquet fell in love with the property in the Gualtallary Valley near the Chilean border when he first saw it while on vacation in 1990, but the Frenchman’s vision paid off handsomely. The critic James Suckling scored the wine a 91. $15.99 at http://wine.com

2020 C. L. Butaud Texas Tempranillo

The 2019 vintage of this 100-percent Texas-grown tempranillo earned an 88+ from the Wine Advocate and made history by becoming the first Texas wine acknowledged by Robert Parker’s platform. Representing an even greater reliance on the outstanding Farmhouse Vineyard in Brownfield, winemaker Randy Hester’s world-class 2020 should score even higher. $54 at http://clbutaud.com

2019 Cardinale Cabernet Sauvignon

At this price, of course it should be good. If there was ever a California cab worthy of a 100-point score, the Cardinale is it. Back in 1983, the visionary Jess Jackson tapped into the premium fruit at Kendall-Jackson’s Lakeport winery — the original vineyard was called Cardinale — and the rest is history. Hillside vineyards in both Napa and Sonoma County provide the cabernet and merlot fruit these days and rock-star winemaker Chris Carpenter then ages his wine in new French oak. Both Suckling and Jeb Dunnuck scored it a 98. I think they’re two points low. $369.99 at http://wine.com

2019 Spottswoode Lyndenhurst Cabernet Sauvignon — I tasted the Lyndenhurst side by side with the Cardinale and there wasn’t a dramatic drop-off despite the dramatically different price points. All the Bordeaux varietals are in this second wine from the Spottswoode folks. It’s a complex, elegant wine and medium-bodied with a lengthy satisfying finish. $89.99 at http://wine.com

2019 Aridus Graciano

The outlier in the group hails from Arizona’s Cochise County and it’s a gem. While the 16.6 percent alcohol content may seem alarming, the wine is as balanced as it can be. Graciano is best known as a blending grape in Spain’s Rioja, which is just as hot and arid to Arizona, but the intensely flavored Aridus proves how nicely it stands on its own. $46 at http://aridiuswineco.com

H-town happenings

Stellenbosch Red & Wine Dinner: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 13. Astor Farm to Table, Katy. http://astorfarmtotable.com $89 http://eventbrite.com

Wine 101 tasting class: 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17. Chef Bernadette’s Place. http://bernadettesplacellc.com $79. http://eventbrite.com

JMP Wine Night Featuring Orin Swift Wines: 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19. JMP Wines Tasting Room, Humble. http://jmpwines.com $70. http://eventbrite.com

Pop-Up Wine Night: 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12. Serca Wines. http://sercawines.com $35. http://eventbright.com

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Others to follow

Jeremy Parzen (http://dobianchi.com): My podcast partner in crime pays tribute to one of his favorite cities and one of mine, too — Torino, or Turin as we Americans call it. He’s there this week hustling up some wine business. I spent 17 glorious days in the city covering the 2006 Winter Olympics for the Houston Chronicle.

Sandra Crittenden (http://winelifehouston.com): Sandra offers up 10 pinot noirs you need to try now, sharing an inciteful piece she wrote for Galveston magazine.

Russ Kane (http://vintagetexas.com): The Texas Wineslinger goes deep with Hill Country winemaker Doug Lewis about a very special wine for him, the 2012 Round Mountain Vineyard Reserve.

Jeff Kralick (http://thedrunkencyclist.com): Jeff shares his favorite wines of late, an eclectic mix as always.

Katrina Rene (http://thecorkscrewconcierge.com): Having returned from a whirlwind couple weeks of globe-trotting, Kat focuses on Texas wine happenings during the holiday season.

The Sports Page

Raising a glass to . . . Brittney Greiner

What an obscene ordeal she was made to endure, but she’ll be fine. Can’t wait to watch her hoop again.

And to . . . the Texans

For providing such wonderful comic relief in these stressful times. They have perfected ineptitude.

A friend who isn’t overly savvy about the vast and wonderful world of wine asked for help the other night, requesting a short list of my go-to daily-drinking bottles. She has tasted enough with me to know my palate is reasonably trustworthy and she didn’t want to get bogged down in geeky details.

“Please,” she said, “just tell me what you like and how much it costs.”

OK, here goes . . .

When it comes to bubbles, Kirkland’s pink Prosecco (under $10) and Brut Champagne (under $20) at Costco can’t be beat. They’re well-made and offer remarkable value. If I’m feeling fancy, however, I default to either the Piper-Heidsieck Cuvee Brut or the Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Reserve, both of which can be found for under $50. Having said that, I’ve drunk more of Matthew Massey’s Madame Zéro of late than all other champagnes combined. Although it’s about $60 at Spec’s, it checks a lot of boxes — including the drink-local one.

Well, sort of. While it’s a for-real French sparkler from the heart of Champagne, the intense young man behind the brand grew up in Galveston and learned about wine working in Houston’s restaurant scene. All things being relatively equal, I’ll support a home boy any day. I can’t wait to taste his rose sparkler, which should hit the market soon.

Speaking of homeys, Jeremy Hart’s Explicit Content Châteauneuf-du-Pape has become a fixture in my Vinotemp, too. The native Houstonian has held down almost every kind of job there is in the wine trade, so it’s exciting to see him roll up his sleeves and release this gem from the Southern Rhone’s big-dog AOC. Hart makes it in a partnership with Chateau de Font du Loup, a respected boutique producer with some 20 hectares of organically farmed grenache and syrah vines that are up to 100 years old. Regularly $60 at Central Market, it’s $47 during the store’s just-begun red wine sale. Worthy every penny, believe me.

Why “Explicit Content?” Because Hart is into purity and intense fruit flavors. His wine, made in concrete vats, never sees any oak — just like the wine that I think is the best under $20 red in the Houston market, the Domaine de Mourchon Tradition, a Côtes-du-Rhône Village from the lovely town of Seguret.

I’ve known Mourchon’s owner Walter McKinlay who turned 89 this summer but still made it back to Houston to host a dinner at Rabelais a couple weeks ago, practically since he released his first vintage in 1998, but our friendship might not survived if he didn’t have such fine, value-driven wines. McKinlay turned 89 this summer but still made it back to Houston with his daughter Kate to host a dinner at Café Rabelais a couple weeks ago,

Note he Mourchon Loubie rose (about $19) also happens to be my favorite pink. But, when at Spec’s, I always pick up a few bottles of the Saint Marc Reserve, a Pays d’Oc rosé of syrah from Provence that goes for about $8. Really, eight bucks. It’s delicious. So is Gerard Betrand’s Gris Blanc, an under-$15 pale pink grenache from the dry, sun-splashed Tautavel neighborhood about 30 miles north of Perpignan. And the $10 Liberation of Paris rosé from another Houstonian, Jean-Francois Bonete, always tempts me as well. I’m such the sucker for good, cheap pink wines.

Another one of my default reds is the Allegrini Palazzo della Torre, an under-$20 corvina-centric blend from Italy’s Veneto. Or, if it’s Barolo you want, visit Kelly Prohl’s Double Decanted near Sam Houston Parkway on the west side of town and ask her for the 2016 Ceretto (about $60). Then again, forget I said that. I want every one of those bottles for myself.

As for whites, I’ve recently discovered a new favorite, Warwick’s The First Lady Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa’s Western Cape Region. (The name pays tribute to the winery’s founder, Norma Ratcliffe, a seminal figure in her country’s wine evolution.) It’s under $15, yet offers the vibrant minerality and citrus notes I want from sav blanc. As for chardonnay, the Duckhorn Decoy, which can sometimes be found for under $15, is a no-brainer buy that can be purchased almost anywhere. Ditto the Decoy Rosé and Cabernet Red.

Cheers!

The Sports Page

Raising a glass to . . .

Jim Crane, for setting the forever standard of excellence for Houston sports franchises. He’s not always the nicest guy — ask James Click — but he knows how to run a business. Signing Jose Abreu was brilliant. Who needs a general manager?

Pouring one out for . . .

Cal McNair, the nice guy who has made the Texans beyond irrelevant. Under his “leadership,” they have become the worst franchise in Houston sports history. It’s not even close.

Pouring a bottle over the head of . . .

Deshaun Watson, a seriously bad guy. He’ll beat the Texans Sunday, but that, of course, says nothing. He’s a loser.

H-town Happenings

Seasonal Sip Tasting: 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1: the SIPstahood Winery Tasting Room. http://thesipstahood.com $25 http://eventbrite.com

Happy Cab Franc Day wine dinner: 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4. Atkins House. $60. http://eventbrite.com

Wine Tasting Fundraiser for the Alliance Francaise Houston: 6-9 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7. Hanover River Oaks. $150. 713 526-1121 or info@alliancehouston.org

Pur Pairings Food & Wine Pairing Class: 5 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 13. Pur Noire Urban Wineries. http://purnoirewines.com $42. http://eventbrite.com

Indulge Your Palate – A Food, Beer, Wine-Tasting and Toy Drive: 5 p;m. Thursday, Dec. 15. The Hermann Park Golf Course Center. $30 http://eventbrite.com

Follow me

Podcast: Sporty Wine Guy  

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Twitter: @sportywineguy

Facebook: Dale Robertson

Others to follow

Jeremy Parzen (http://dobianchi.com): My podcast partner in crime talks about his cool new home in Westbury, not far from where he’s been living since he moved to Houston eight years ago. Can’t wait to see it in person!

Sandra Crittenden (http://winelifehouston.com): Sandra shares the “Beginners Guide to Bordeaux” piece she did recently for Galveston Monthly. She’s hardly a beginner herself, however, having traveled there frequently.

Russ Kane (http://vintagetexas.com): The Texas Wineslinger goes deep with Hill Country winemaker Doug Lewis about a very special wine for him, the 2012 Round Mountain Vineyard Reserve.

Jeff Kralick (http://thedrunkencyclist.com): Jeff focuses on stickies from Bordeaux and how to pair them. Would you believe beef and chorizo enchiladas?

Katrina Rene (http://thecorkscrewconcierge.com): Kat [pays tribute to the “mountain merlots” that she loves.

We’ve nailed down the details for the Dec. 7 wine tasting that will kick off a fundraising campaign to restore the Alliance Française of Houston’s historic home on Lovett Blvd. in Montrose to its former glory. The timing is perfect because the venerable language school/cultural center celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2023.

The event will be 6-to-9 p.m. in the gorgeous ninth-floor indoor-outdoor entertainment space in my new home, the Hanover River Oaks on Kirby Drive, across from Whole Foods. We’re asking for a $150 donation per person, but that comes with an array of appetizers prepared by the guy I call “the food god,” Ruggles Black’s chef-owner Bruce Molzan, and a wide array of French wines provided by four importers with strong ties to the Houston area. There will also be a couple of excellent door prizes on offer in a drawing that evening, including a dinner for four and a personal tasting with yours truly.

The vintners Matthew Massey, who has Madame Zéro champagne and Jeremy Hart, who recently released his Explicit Content Châteauneuf-du-Pape, both super-serious for-real French wines, plus two importers, Douglas Skopp, whose Dionysus Imports offers a splendid lineup from a variety of boutique producers, and Jean-François Bonneté, who owns the import company BCI and is man behind the Liberation de Paris and Bonneté wines.

I’ve been a member of the Alliance’s Board of Directors since the late 1990s and have fond memories of a many a wonderful event there that celebrated all things French. The COVID-19 mess pretty much shut us down socially, but we’re ready to flap our wings again. Some classes are again in-person at the site (www.alliancefrancaisehouston) and we intend to resume hosting regular wine tastings — we lost a huge asset when Spec’s legendary fine-wine buyer Bear Dalton passed away a couple years ago — as well as readings, art showings and and just-for-fun get-togethers for local Francophiles.

Our home needs some upgrading, though, and moving forward with that starts with our Dec. 7 soiree, so please come and invite your friends. But be forewarned: Capacity is limited to 40 and we’re about halfway there already. In short, don’t tarry with your ticket purchases! To register, call Angela Gomez at 713 526-1121 or send an email: info@alliancehouston.com. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to email me at sportywineguy@outlook.com.

Our home needs some upgrading, though, and moving forward with that starts with our Dec. 7 soiree, so please come and invite your friends. But be forewarned: Capacity is limited to 40 and we’re about halfway there already. In short, don’t tarry with your ticket purchases! To register, call Angela Gomez at 713 526-1121 or send an email: info@alliancehouston.com. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to email me at sportywineguy@outlook.com.

I can’t think of a better way to kick off the holiday season!

Travels with me and Pablo

Pablo Valqui, a travel-industry pro and true gourmand, has begun nailing down the precise details for our May 25-June 4 tour of some of my favorite wineries in the South of France, ranging from the Languedoc to the Southern Rhone to the Luberon to the Var. We’re close to filling up — 10 spots maximum are available — so, again, don’t wait much longer to peruse the details at http://gourmettours.biz or reach out to me personally at the aforementioned email address.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to being a part of this adventure, which will include an afternoon aperitif at my home in the magnificent Ubaye Valley above the dreamy little town of Barcelonnette.

Sippin’ with Sporty

White

2020 MacRostie Sonoma Coast Chardonnay: Quality meets value in this bottle. Checks all the California chardonnay boxes. $26 at http://macrostiewinery.com

2019 Grgich Hills Estate Chardonnay Napa Valley: The organically grown grapes are from Carneros and American Canyon, Napa’s coolest climes. The winemaker is Ivo Jeramaz, whose uncle’s name adorns on the bottle. Mike Grgich, of course, is the man who put Chateau Montelena on the map with the 1973 chardonnay that won “the Judgment of Paris” competition. Mike’s still with us at the age of 98. $42.59 at Spec’s

Pink

2021 Bonterra Rose: Made with organically grown grapes — grenache grown in Mendocino County is front and center — it’s got wonderfully crisp acidity, reflective of how the wine was made. Winemaker Jeff Cichocki fermented and aged each varietal separately for two months before blending. $15.99 at http://wine.com

Red

2021 C.L. Butaud Texas Mourvèdre: It’s a nicely structure, full-flavored blend of mourvedre grapes from two High Plains vineyards, Farmhouse in Brownfield and Desert Willow in Seminole. Owner-winemaker Randy Hester thinks it can age nicely for a decade, but it’s drinking splendidly today. $30 at http://clbutaud.com

2016 Viberti Buon Padre Barolo: I saw it on the list at Porta’Vino for $54 so I decided to give it a try. After all, we rarely encounter many Barolos under 60 bucks, do we? I wasn’t disappointed. Neither, apparently, was the critic Suckling, who awarded a score of 95, calling it “a rich, flavorful Barolo with plum and chocolate character. Hazelnuts and meat, too. It’s full-bodied and layered with a wonderful combination of ripe fruit and ripe tannins. Yet, it remains tight, focused and fresh.” $46.49 at Total Wine

2018 Medlock Ames Kate’s & B’s Cabernet Sauvignon: Suckling also gave this cab a 94, and Jeb Dunnuck thought it deserved a 95. I’m in full agreement. Kate’s & B’s is named for the wives of co-founder Chris James and Ames Morison. Owners Chris James and Ames Morison believe their Bell Mountain vineyard blocks on the Sonoma side of the Mayacamus Mountains “are reflective of classic Bordeaux terroir with high-density vine spacing, gravely clay soils, tiny yields of small inky-black berries, and a thoughtful clonal selection matched by a rigorous farming regime.” $105 at http://medlockames.com

2019 Mouton Cadet Bordeaux : It’s hard to find a better red Bordeaux at such a price point. I hadn’t tried a bottle in years until recently. Truth to tell, the high quality surprised me. I’ve tasted a lot worse while spending a lot more on other Bordeaux wines. Kudos to the late Baron Philippe de Rothschild, who first released this lovely little red in 1930. $17.99 at http://wine.com

Reddy Vineyards The Superior Texan: A rustic Tuscan-inspired blend with a Texas twist, it’s a blend of mostly sangiovese and tannat with a little montepulciano and malbec thrown in to add depth and complexity. $45 at http://reddyvineyards.com

H-town Happenings

Happy Cab Franc Day wine dinner: 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4. Atkins House. $60. http://eventbrite.com

Holiday Sampling Happy Hour: 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 29. We Olive and Wine Bar. $40 http://eventbrite.com

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Jeremy Parzen (http://dobianchi.com): My podcast partner in crime (and, yes, we’ll get another one up soon!) reports on Pisa university research that shows it’s possible to prove a correlation between soil type and aroma. He also touts a wine country dining experience he enjoyed recently in Sebastopol.

Sandra Crittenden (http://winelifehouston.com): Sandra shares the “Beginners Guide to Bordeaux” piece she did recently for Galveston Monthly. She’s hardly a beginner herself, however, having traveled there frequently.

Russ Kane (http://vintagetexas.com): The Texas Wineslinger goes deep with Hill Country winemaker Doug Lewis about a very special wine for him, the 2012 Round Mountain Vineyard Reserve.

Jeff Kralick (http://thedrunkencyclist.com): Jeff’s fifth annual blind tasting of domestic pinot noirs featured 55 wines. He tells you about 20 of them in his latest blog with more installments to come.

Katrina Rene (http://thecorkscrewconcierge.com): Kat weighs in on Texas wines that have captured her fancy of late.

I know. I’ve been missing in action for a few weeks now. Between moving, nearly getting killed in a car wreck and traveling to France — all of which happened in the the same week — I don’t know which way is up, down or sideways. It was probably a poor idea to schedule everything at once . . . except, of course, the wreck wasn’t my idea. (Nor was it my fault.) The good news is I’m still alive and typing.

This top of this post, however, is a rerun of a story that appeared in the Houston Chronicle last week and it doesn’t have a damned thing to do with wine. But those of you who also follow the Houston sports scene and don’t take the Chronicle (Shame on you!) will find it interesting.

Anyway, I celebrated a milestone anniversary last week, which explains why I wrote what follows. But note that my regular wine content has been tacked on at the end.

On Friday, Oct 6, 1972, I became a for-real professional journalist, having been hired as a 20-year-old sports copy editor at the Houston Post. On the previous Sunday, my final weekend as a “civilian” sports fan, I had forked over for-real money – albeit probably about 12 bucks – to watch the Oilers take on the New York Jets, quarterbacked by Joe Namath, my sports hero a couple years earlier in high school.  

The Astrodome was maybe two-thirds full for the Oilers’ home opener. They hadn’t finished with a winning record in five seasons and were already 0-2 under the clueless Bill Peterson, giving up 64 points in road losses at Denver and Miami. Against the Dolphins, who were embarking upon their historic 17-0 season, they gained 167 total yards, 82 of which came on a single touchdown pass from second-year quarterback Dan Pastorini.

But somehow the Oilers beat Namath and the Jets 26-20, damn them. However, I took that as a good omen for the career path I’d chosen. Getting to work in a big-league sports city straight from the chute was the break of a lifetime.

Of course, at that juncture, Houston was “big-league” only in the sense that it had three teams playing in the big leagues. (A fourth, the Aeros, were starting their inaugural season in the upstart World Hockey Association.) That Oilers victory would be their last until Nov. 4, 1973 – 402 days later – and their last at home for nearly two years. In between, they would lose 23 of 24 games, including 13 in a row in the Dome. Not many were close, either.     

The Astros? They were coming off the best finish of their first 11 years, going 84-69 in a strike-shortened season, yet they still finished only third in the National League West. And it would be another eight long years before they took the field for the franchise’s first playoff game in 1980, against the Philadelphia Phillies, then nearly another quarter of a century before they finally won a postseason series.

The Rockets? In the fall of 1972, having only recently abandoned San Diego, they were preparing for their second season in Houston following a forgettable 34-48 slog that saw them frequently play in front of crowds of a couple thousand at Hofheinz Pavilion while wandering as far-afield as El Paso for “home” games. Elvin Hayes, the Big E himself, had returned, but few seemed to care all that much. Hayes, ironically, was long gone when they finally made the playoffs three seasons later.

Ultimately, I would cash paychecks from the Post, which died in 1995, and the Chronicle for 46-plus years before hanging up my press pass in early 2019. In that nearly five-decade span, I got to write about all of three championship teams, the pair claimed consecutively by the Rockets in 1994-95 and the Astros’ scandal-tainted 2017 World Series triumph.

In stark contrast, my sports-writing colleagues in Boston have covered 12 championship teams in the 21^st century alone. I’m not here to whine, though. Quite the contrary. Rather, my purpose is to provide context and perspective, to remind everyone that Houston’s sports scene today, certainly relative to the aforementioned wasteland, could be in far worse shape despite the Rockets’ failings and the Texans’ flailing of late.  

Yes, thank you, Astros. If Justin Verlander return whole, there’s no reason to think they can’t reach their fourth World Series in six years, a feat bettered by only the 1996-2001 Yankees during the last six decades. They’re also finishing their fourth 100-win season in the last six, a milestone accomplished but once in the franchise’s first 55 seasons.

As for the Rockets, with an exciting core of elite young talent, they figure to rebound quickly, if perhaps not immediately, after winning all of 37 games the past two seasons.

Which leaves us with the Texans. True, it’s hard to have much optimism regarding their short-term prospects. Still, they’re at worst a mediocre team, not an historically awful one like the Oilers of 1972 and 1973. Peterson, who went 1-18 before being mercifually shown the door, was arguably the most hapless, malaprop prone head coach ever to preside over one of Houston’s pro teams, making even Hugh Campbell (13 wins total from 1984 through 1986) seem to be Hall-of-Fame material.

I asked former Chronicle sports writer Hal Lundgren, the paper’s beat reporter during those hard-scrabble times, how long it took the Oilers players and the media to figure out what a dud coach Pete was.

“Oh,” Lundgren said, “a couple practices and a press conference.”

At the introductory team meeting in his first training camp, Coach Pete had told the Oilers: “Men, I want to you just thinking of one word all season. One word and one word only: ‘Super Bowl!’”

It went downhill from there.

A comically memorable moment in the midst of all the misery occurred on a Monday night in the Astrodome. Having gleaned neither inspiration nor confidence from their surprising victory over Namath’s Jets eight days earlier, the Oilers next got pummeled 34-0 by the Oakland Raiders. How bad was it? Dan Pastorini completed more passes to Raiders (four) than to Oilers (three) while finishing with a negative-1 passing yard. Kent Nix, sent out to save Pastorini from further embarrassment, completed one pass for no yards while throwing an obligatory pick of his own. 

Late in the debacle, the ABC cameras honed in on a fan slumped in his seat in an otherwise empty upper-deck section of the Dome. The guy responded with a middle-finger salute. Don Meredith, of course, had a quip ready.

“That’s just his way of saying,” Dandy Don explained, “that his team is No. 1.”

The 1972 season ended with a five-turnover 61-17 Dome loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. In their lone victory in 1973, 31-27 at Baltimore, the Oilers still found a way to commit six turnovers. In that season’s penultimate game, a 33-7 trouncing in Pittsburgh, they gave the ball away nine times.

Over 22 starts in 1972-73, 21 of them ending in defeat, Pastorini threw 12 touchdown passes and 29 interceptions. And, remember, he had been the third player taken overall in the 1971 draft. Davis Mills, who was only a third-round pick, may be 2-11-1 as a starter and not yet showing any signs of becoming a franchise quarterback, but his 19-to-12 touchdowns-to-picks ratio is a respectable statistic.

So is the Texans’ defensive standing. Only 12 teams have given up fewer points. By comparison, no teams gave up fewer points than the 1972-73 Oilers.

In short, these are hardly the worst of times in H-town. It’s also important to remember that, five seasons later, Pastorini was under center in consecutive AFC Championship games, a place no Oilers or Texans quarterback has found himself since. Our boundless patience eventually got rewarded back when. No reason to think history won’t repeat.

Keep the faith, folks.        

Cheers!

Sippin’ with Sporty

White

2020 Becker Texas Sauvignon Blanc — The 20-plus-year-old Becker Estate vines are in their prime, and their grapes get the royal treatment after harvest, spending time in both stainless steel and new French oak for nine months. The requisite flavors of tropical fruit, lime and apple are pronounced. It’s a remarkable value for $10.69 at http://heb.com

2019 Newsom Family Vineyards Pinot Grigio — A friend recently gifted me a case and it lasted maybe 10 days. This Texas High Plains gem is loaded with fruit and is way more full-bodied than most pinot grigios from elsewhere. You don’t see a lot of wine made from this Italian varietal in Texas, which may be smart. It would be damned hard to compete with the Newsoms. $22.95 at http://newsomvineyards.com

Red

2018 Duchman Family Montepulciano — Hey, it’s Texas Wine Month so I’m all in on our “local” producers. Duchman specializes in Italian varietals, making wines that never fail to please, and this is yet another example of winemaker Dave Reilly’s prowess working in tandem with the state’s formidable grape-growers, the Oswald family in this wine’s case. Reilly is proud of the wine’s “rich flavors of blackberry, black cherry and plum” and says it “fills the senses “with aromas of dried flowers, dark fruit and a delicate peppery spice.” $35 at duchmanwinery.com

H-town happenings

Col di Lamo Wine Dinner — Thursday, Oct. 13, 7 p.m. at Roma http://romahouston.com. $119 http://eventbrite.com

Brenner’s on the Bayou Wine Fest — Saturday, Oct. 15. 2 p.m. at Brenner’s on the Bayou http://brennershouston.com. $150 and up. http://eventbrite.com

Champagne Seminar — Saturday, Oct. 22, noon at the Texas Wine School http://thetexaswineschool.com $100. http://eventbrite.com

Rosé All Day tasting — Saturday, Oct. 22, noon at Envy Wine Room in Spring http://envywineroom.com. $16. http://eventbrite.com

Houston Young Lawyers Foundation Uncorked Wine Tasting — Thursday, Nov. 3. 6 p.m. at Sonoma http://sonomahouston.com $55 and up. http://eventbrite.com

A Taste of Legends with wines from France’s greatest regions — Saturday, Nov. 5. at Morton’s The Steakhouse Downtown. http://mortons.com $179 http://eventbrite.com

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Jeremy Parzen (http://dobianchi.com) — My podcast partner in crime is on the road again, hosting tastings in New York Thursday and Dallas Oct. 27. In between, he’ll be back in Bra in Italy for a few days teaching at the Slow Food University. There’s going to be a lot to talk about the next time we get behind the mike and, yes, we will eventually post a new podcast.

Sandra Crittenden (http://winelifehouston.com) — Sandra examines the 2022 Texas Harvest in a piece she wrote for Galveston Monthly. Speaking of busy, she celebrated the marriage of her daughter, Morgan (both were regulars on my Chronicle tasting panel) this past weekend and will soon be headed off on a big adventure in Spain.

Russ Kane (http://vintagetexas.com) — The Texas Wineslinger may have put his gorgeous property in the Hill Country up for sale, but you can bet he’ll still be a frequent visitor to Fredericksburg as long as the Cabernet Grill (http://cabernetgrill.com), with its spectacular all-Texas wine list, keeps its doors open. That’s his latest blog topic.

Jeff Kralick (http://thedrunkencyclist.com) — Also in a traveling mode, Jefff is pedaling through Bordeaux, which, it seems, has been as rainy as my Alpine neck of the woods. But we cyclists live to suffer, don’t we?

Katrina Rene (http://thecorkscrewconcierge.com) — Kat hasn’t been quite as far a field of some of us, but she recently treated herself to a stay at the Carter Creek Winery Resort and Spa (http://cartercreek.com), also near Fredericksburg. Check out her report on same.

In case you missed it, the following ran in the Sept. 7 Flavor Section of the Houston Chronicle. 

Galveston natives have an acronym that’s all their own. It’s BOI, which, of course, means “born on Island.” Matthew Massey is a BOI – Galveston Ball class of 2002, too – and also a local boy who made good. How good? Massey, at the age of 39, is the first Texan, never mind Galvestonian, to launch a for-real French champagne brand of his own.

The wine is called Madame Zéro, but don’t be fooled by that seemingly negative number, which only approximates its next-to-nothing sugar content (less than .05 grams per five-ounce pour). This is a big-league bottle of bubbles at every level, a serious wine conceived of and nurtured by a serious young man, that also represents exceptional value. At $56.99 – that’s Spec’s cash price – Massey’s sparkling lady way over-delivers.

OK, you’re probably rolling your eyes right now. Don’t. The obsessively detailed-oriented Massey left nothing to chance with his seemingly pie-in-the-sky project, saying, “I’m very hands-on with everything we’re doing. I have a passion for champagne and, to get it right, you can’t just go hire someone to take care of things. To carry out a vision, you have to understand every part of the process.”

His timing could have been better, what the COVID-19 pandemic which created unforeseen headaches every step of the way. In normal times, all systems would have been go by the end of 2020. But there proved to be a hidden blessing in the pandemic: He got to age his cuvée for an extra year, holding off the release until December of 2021.  

“Not easy on cash flow,” he conceded. “Nothing about this project has been easy.  We’ve had a lot of things we’ve had to mitigate, but it’s made us a lot stronger for when we do end up having easier times ahead.”

Even the famous houses have confronted huge challenges with the supply chain, from the bottles to the cages to the labels. Imagine what it was like for an upstart outsider without an iota of street cred when he first touched down in Champagne. But Massey wouldn’t take “non” for an answer.

Most importantly, after considerable homework and legwork trying to understand the myriad nuances of many of the 319 champagne villages, he found the right team, a grape-grower and a winemaker, in one of his favorite towns, Vertus, in the Côtes des Blancs. Vertus offers outstanding terroir for chardonnay – his favorite varietal – delivering fruit that hits squarely in his personal sweet spot, neither heavy nor austere.

Straight from the chute, his inaugural extra-aged Blanc de Blancs earned a silver medal in the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo’s Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition. Already, aside from Spec’s, the wine can be found at MAD Houston – his first on-premise account – Brasserie 19, DaMarco, Mastro’s, 1751 Sea and Land and Stella’s Wine Bar in the Post Oak Hotel. He’s hardly finished, either. A rosé is coming in the fall and a vintage wine will follow sometime within the next 24 months.

But, to be sure, there was nothing predictable about Massey’s path to sparkling wine Nirvana. Conceding that his back story “is pretty wild,” he explained, “The beginning is really important. There was a ton of love but not a lot of money in my family. My dad was in the Navy. He was in port (in Galveston) and met my mom (also a BOI) through mutual friends. She followed him to Spain, to Florida, to a lot of other places. They wanted to make a life for themselves on the island, but neither of them had a college education.”

His father Dan, as blue collar and salt-of-the-earth as they come, “built our house with his bare hands,” Massey said proudly. “We didn’t even have carpet, or AC. Hey, he sold his Harley to pay for the kitchen cabinets. We were kind a roughing it in the early days. But as I got older, I really wanted to see the world, so I started working at the San Luis Hotel as a valet parker when I was still in high school. I was really into cars and was trying to buy my first one.”

Fortuitously, the ways things turned out, that job didn’t last long. It seems the actress Sandra Bullock pulled in one evening with a small entourage and he took their luggage upstairs. The group then asked the 18-year Massey to chauffeur them to where the action was. Naturally, he agreed. Wouldn’t you? Finding the keys to the hotel’s Bentley at the valet stand and with no manager on duty, he headed out, Bullock and friends happily in tow.

The hotel’s management wasn’t pleased, to say the least.

He next landed at Luigi’s, the popular Italian restaurant on Galveston’s strand. It was there, he said, “that I got really big into trying to understand wine. I was underage, but I tasted a lot of wine with the older guys.” A gig at Sullivan’s Steakhouse in the Galleria area and then Zula in downtown Houston further expanded his wine horizons. But . . .

“I told my best friend, Kelly Finn, ‘Dude, we’ve got to turn the chapter on restaurants,’” he said. “’We’ve never been anywhere. We’ve got to visit the great wine regions. We’ve got to find a way to travel.’”

Massey contemplated a career in wine distribution – until he found out how poorly entry-level positions paid.

“I had my ah-ha no moment,” he said, laughing.

Although his degree from the University of Houston was in marketing, Massey soon finagled what proved to be a lucrative position with a global oil-and-gas company, “doing sales, presentations, that kind of stuff. It helped fund my passion.”

In the end, it would be bubbles that captured his fancy because he saw a way forward to make his wine unique. Or to use his own hyphenated word, “non-conformist.” Aging a non-vintage champagne for a minimum of five years couldn’t be less conformist. Most rest for closer to 15 months, with up to 12 grams of sugar added during same. For a workout maven like Massey, a buffed 6-2, 195-pounder, that level of dosage was unfathomable.

“We had to get away from adding sugar,” he said, explaining that he wanted a champagne made in a style that spoke to his personal ethos. Also, he’s wont to say, “transparency is at the forefront of our brand.”

To wit, on Madame Zéro’s back label, you can find calories per five-ounce serving (100), the carbs (1.5 grams) and the fat content (0). Ditto protein (also 0). No matter. With the dearth of sugar, it’s practically a health drink.        

And one that’s made, Massey insists, “with zero compromise.”

Raising a glass to . . . Del Harris

The new Hall-of-Famer coached the worst Rockets team in history (yes, even worse than the recent Rockets teams) back 1982-83. But that wasn’t his fault, believe me. He has positively impacted many of the greatest players of the modern era over half a century and he’s still in the game at the age of 85, serving as vice president of the Dallas Mavericks’ G-League team. Del was, and remains, a helluva nice guy, too. Cheers, coach!    

And to . . . Casper Ruud

The young Norwegian, who reached his first ATP World Tour final at River Oaks in 2019, lost his second Grand Slam final of 2022 at the U.S. Open Sunday, but he made a lot of new fans with his sportsmanship when he gave back what proved to be crucial point early in the final against Carlos Alcaraz. It came on a double bounce the umpire missed. Alcaraz went on to claim his first major title and become tennis’ youngest top-ranked male player ever. Both guys should win multiple Slams going forward. A new age beckons.     

Sippin’ With Sporty

    Pink

2021 Acumen Napa Valley Mountainside — Philip Titus’ personal winemaking acumen, best expressed in Acumen’s excellent cabs over the past decade, led to his crafting a predictably compelling rose from the winery’s Atlas Peak fruit. I’d rather not pay so much for a pink wine, but I’ll make an exception for this gem. I loved the bright red fruit flavors. It’s just a beautiful, immensely satisfying wine. $35 at http://acumenwine.com

                     White

2020 Cuvaison Méthod Béton –– The name references the fact that this small-lot white fermented in concrete eggs. It’s a blend of two Dijon clones that delivers beautiful aromas with pronounced white peach citrus notes on the palate. It’s equal parts elegant and intensely flavored with white peach and citrus at the forefront. $50 at http://cuvaison.com

                            Red

2018 Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de la Tour Private Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon — One of Napa Valley’s reference standard cabs going back to the 1930s, it rarely disappoints. In awarding a 98-point score, Antonio Galloni called the wine “sensational,” praising it for the luscious red fruit layered with leather and licorice flavors. What he said! Well, what James Suckling and Jeb Dunnuck said, too. Their scores were 98 and a 97+ respectively.$150 at http://bvwines.com

H-Town Happenings

Indulge Your Palate: A Food, Beer & Wine Tasting Festival — The Health Museum. 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29. Starts at $30. http://eventbrite.com

Stella’s Wine Bar Symposium — Saturday, Oct. 8, 4 p.m. http://eventbrite.com

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There are no bad weeks in wine-blogger world. You’re meeting cool people and writing about stuff that gives us much pleasure. But some weeks are truly special and last week was one of them.

It started with a predictably spirited “Sporty Wine Guy” podcast recording session on Monday with Jeremy Parzen and ended with my first-ever visit to the far-field wilds of Tomball, where I found a quaint and lovely small town with an excellent wine bar and an outstanding BYOB – woo hoo!!! – Argentine steakhouse. But we’ll get to that in a moment because I’m going to recount my adventures in chronological order.  

Wednesday brought visits from an old friend, Nicole Rolet, and a new one, Carlo Pagnin. Rolet was in town for a frenetic day of tasting the local wine community on her new Chène Bleu releases (chenebleu.com), which included a predictably compelling 2021 rosé. We met up for would be my first ever wine breakfast at the Colombe d’Or. Pourquoi pas, right? It was five o’clock somewhere, after all.  

An American and a refugee from the corporate world, Nicole is a true force of nature, having transformed a crumbling monastery built in the Middle Ages into a state-of-the-art winery complex near the village of Crestet, in the shadow of Mont Ventoux, the towering hump that so routinely figures prominently in the Tour de France. We met back in 2010 when she put together the first-ever International Grenache Symposium at her place, bringing in luminaries from as far away as Australia to taste and compare notes on the great grape of France’s Southern Rhone Valley.                

Husband Xavier, who is both a Frenchman and the former president of the London Stock Exchange, had purchased the property and surrounding vineyards that became Chène Bleu not long before they met. The sparks flew between them and the next thing Nicole knew, she had become a vintner with lofty expectations of creating a Grand Cru-caliber wine in a neighborhood not known for same. There have been hiccups, to be sure, but the Rolets have been relentless in their pursuit of excellence.

And unafraid to think outside the wine box. An example: Their “feminine” red Héloïse includes a bit of Chène Bleu’s high-altitude viognier blended in with the dominant syrah and some grenache, following the Côte Rotie model in the Northern Rhone. But, since that doesn’t conform to France’s strict AOC regulations, it must be sold as a Vin de Pays, albeit one of the best you’ll ever encounter. Héloïse’s “masculine” counterpart, Abélard, is mostly grenache (85 percent) with syrah making up the rest.

Héloïse and Abélard, of course, were the star-crossed lovers from Medieval times – she was his young student – whose “uncompromising commitment to each other through time,” Nicole writes on her website, “reflects our own convictions.  We admire their ability to combine deep thinking, passion and tenacity.”  

Unfortunately, Chène Bleu isn’t widely available in Houston, but fortuitously I had seen a double magnum of the rosé high on a shelf at Montrose Cheese & Wine. It became the biggest and most expensive ($219) bottle of rosé I’ve ever purchased, but I got Nicole to sign the label, then my wife and I and four others shamelessly polished the whole thing off a couple nights later at Porta’Vino. To repeat myself, Pourquoi pas?       

Magnums of same are on the shelf at Houston Wine Merchant for $86.99. Pricey, to be sure, but worth it. This meticulously crafted age-worthy pink is Grand Cru-caliber by any measure.

Moving on . . . Lunch that happy day would be at Coppa, where Pagnin, the export manager, was showing his Muri-Gries wines (muri-gries.com) from Bolzano in the Südtirol/Alto Adige. We tasted two beautiful whites, a pinot grigio and a pinot bianco, and the winery’s flagship Lagrein, made from grapes that are grown in the center of Bolzano – literally – and are still tended to by Benedictine monks whose predecessors had moved from Muri in Switzerland to Bolzano in the mid-19^th century. The bottles we sampled can all be purchased through AOC Selections (aocselections.com).

It has been 30 years since I visited Bolzano, but I promised Pagnin I would return next spring to tour the gorgeous monastery (seen here) and taste Muri-Gries’ many other wines. A special producer, this one.  

Thursday’s lunch took place at Roegels Barbeque, where Jonathan Honefenger was holding court. At one time or another, any serious Houston wine consumer had surely encountered Honefenger, considering he held down jobs in every sector of the industry here until he up and moved to Oregon with his fiancee (and soon to be wife) Madeline just as the pandemic was hitting. Madeline, it seems, had bought a Peruvian vineyard once owned by her grandfather not long before she and Honefinger first met, so they readily had something in common to discuss.

Jonathan Honefenger

Although she at first didn’t want to date him, he’s a persuasive fellow. Now, they’re ensconced in Portland and have just introduced the Wild Child lineup of wines (wildchildwinecompany.com), which include a reisling, a gamay and a pinot noir. The reds paired splendidly with Roegels’ reference-standard barbeque and all three will soon be on the shelf at Houston Wine Merchant.

That’s the short version of Honefenger’s fascinating story. It will be continued in much greater detail in the near future.    

On Friday night, I finally met up with Casey Barber, the self-made fortysomething entrepreneur from Dallas who, despite raising three children as a single mother, founded the Rose Gold Rosé (rosegold.com), possibly the best-selling French rosé in Texas right now. It’s under $20 in retail – I most frequently scoop up my bottles at the West Gray Kroger – and it spirits you straight to the lovely hinterlands above St. Tropez, where the grapes are grown and the wine gets made.

In just five years, Rose Gold production has exploded from 1,000 cases to 12,000 and Barber’s hoping to double that next year. This all happened because of a memorable tasting experience in Provence on her honeymoon. The marriage may have ended, but it seems safe to say that Casey’s career in wine is only starting.

We convened at Ruggles Black because she and owner Neera Parador are friends. That proved wonderfully serendipitous because I’d suggested to the chef, Bruce Molzan, that he put Rose Gold on his list without knowing Casey and Neera knew each other.       

Then on Saturday night . . . Road trip!  The Newsom Family Vineyards tasting room occupies part of The Empty Glass wine bar (theemptyglass.com) in Tomball and the man behind the bar doing the pouring was Pablo Valqui, with whom I’m partnering on a food-and-wine tour in the South of France next spring. (Details can be found in my previous post and at gourmettours.biz.)

Newsom, of course, was already one of Texas’ premier grape-growers before he decided to release his own label and the juice is just as good as the fruit. In fact, the 2015 Newsom Merlot is the best example of that varietal I’ve run across in 2022 and it sells for a mere $29.95. A five-wine tasting in the cozy Newsom space goes for $18 and five reserve wines can be sampled for $28.              

Our next stop would be the nearby Che Gaucho steakhouse to actually drink the wines, and what a splendid experience that proved to be. The beef and empanadas were top-drawer authentic – the family hails from Argentina – and the BYOB aspect was too good to be true. Tomball has not seen the last of me, whatever the price of gas might be. (chegauchorestaurant.com)  

Despite all the sipping and kibbitzing, I still found time to knock out my first piece  for the Chronicle in a few months. It’s about Matthew Massey, the Madame Zéro champagne producer (madamezero.commadamezero.com) who, improbably, hails from Galveston. You’ll read that story in this space, too, after it appears in the Chron. He and Barber would obviously have many notes to compare, were they to meet, which I hope I can make happen soon.   

Alas, the one thing I didn’t do was attend the Cuvée Collective’s grand opening (cuveecollective.com) thanks to an emergency plumbing issue that had to be dealt with, dammit. Located near the Beltway and I-10 on the west side, it’s our newest upscale wine-storage/tasting venue and I’m told by those who have visited that it’s off-the-charts gorgeous with multiple venues within the warehouse for hosting events and an expansive list of storage options.

Hearty congratulations are in order for the founder, Ginny Endecott, who, like Barber and Massey, had the vision, the determination and the know-how to pull things together during a very difficult period in all of our lives. Ginny used to sit on my Chronicle tasting panel and happens to be even nicer than she is knowledgeable.

You’ll notice there are no wine touts from me this week. Instead, I’m expecting you to explore all of the aforementioned.       

 H-Town Happenings

* Night in Santiago – Camerata, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 6-8 p.m. Free admission. 713-522-8466 or cameratahouston.com

* Cheers for Charity benefitting Second Chances — Red Oak Ballroom at Norris Conference Centers at CityCentre. 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10. eventbrite.com

* Crack Open the Case night: Exploring Wagner Family Wines — JMP Tasting Room, Humble. 6:30 p.m. Thursday, September 15. Starts at $50. eventbrite.com 

* Indulge Your Palate: A Food, Beer & Wine Tasting Festival — The Health Museum. 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29. Starts at $30. eventbrite.com

Follow me

* Podcast: Sporty Wine Guy  

* Instagram: sportywineguy

* Twitter: @sportywineguy

* Facebook: Dale Robertson

Mark your calendars. My friend Pablo Valqui, an experienced tour operator, and I have officially partnered up on our first food-and-wine travel adventure, set for the South of France from May 24 through June 4 next year.    

We’ll be spending four days in Provence at the outset — including a day trip up to the gorgeous Ubaye Valley where the Robertsons “settled” 25 years ago — then heading to Languedoc-Roussillon before circling back through the Southern Rhone Valley and wrapping up with two nights in Nice. Highlights follow:

Food and wine: 

* Welcome dinner in the gorgeous gardens of La Table du Pigonnet in the center of Aix-en-Provence (www.hotelpigonnet.com).

* Pairing dinner at Domaine Gerard Bertrand’s Château l’Hospitalet south of Narbonne near the Mediterranean shore (chateau-hospitalet.com), then a sunset visit to a charming “crab shack” on the Grazel Lagoon near Gruissan. 

* Dinner at the Michelin-starred L’Oustelet on the plaza in Gigondas (loustalet-gigondas.com)

* Tastings at Saint-Pierre de Mejans in the Luberon (saintpierredemejans.com), Château La Mascaronne in the Var (chateau-lamascaronne.com), Domaine de Mourchon above Seguret (www.domainedemourchon.com), Chêne Bleu in the shadow of Mt. Ventoux (chenebleu.com) and Château de Saint-Cosme in Gigondas (saintcosme.com), plus a few other serendipitous stops.     

* A chef-prepared grand aperitif/tasting hosted by yours truly at our home above Barcelonnette (ubaye.com).

* A coastline tour from Nice to Monte Carlo, followed by a festive farewell to La Belle France dinner on our final night.

Culture:

* A tour of Marseille, France’s oldest and most diverse city.

* A tour of the historic Fontfroide Abbey, one of France’s most beautiful, with lunch in the charming restaurant there (fontfroide.com).   

* A tour of Sisteron’s famous Citadel, towering above the Durance River in Haute Provence (provence-alpes.coteazur.com).

Our price is $7,290 per person — maximum of 10 folks, to keep things intimate — and will include all wining, dining, lodging and transportation from the time you get off the plane in Marseille until you board another in Nice. Our hotels will each be superior class, yet unique in their own special ways.   

Official inquiries should be made to Valqui at info@gourmettours.biz, but don’t hesitate to reach out to me, too at sportywineguy@outlook.com

Banner Year!

In recent post, I spoke of the 60th and 50th anniversaries being celebrated in 2022 by Alexander Valley Vineyards and Jordan Winery respectively. But Jordan is hardly alone in marking its half-century in business. It seems 1972 was the most magical of years in the modern history of the California wine industry.

Jordan’s Sonoma County neighbor, Dry Creek Vineyards, also came on line and the Napa Valley scene exploded with Caymus, Silver Oak, Diamond Creek, Clos du Val, Burgess, Mount Veeder, Rutherford Hill, Smith-Madrone and  Sullivan Rutherford Estate releasing their inaugural vintages.

Up in Calistoga, Jim Barrett and Ernie Hahn purchased Chateau Montelena, which had sat dormant since Prohibition. A year later, of course, Barrett’s first Chardonnay release conquered the French in the “Judgment of Paris.” California has been front and center on the world’s wine map ever since.  

Tasting Texas

Tickets have gone on sale for the Texas Hill Country Wineries Texas Wine Month passport event running throughout the month of October. With the purchase of a digital passport, wine lovers can visit up to four of the 45 participating wineries per day while receiving discounts on bottle purchases. Passport tickets are $120 per couple or $85 for an individual with $5 from each ticket sold going directly to the Texas Hill Country Wine Industry Scholarship Fund  To date, more than $55,500 has been awarded to 47 Texas students working towards a degree in viticulture, enology or hospitality.  Go  to https://texaswinetrail.com/texas-wine-month to secure your tickets.

Raising a glass to . . . Jonathan Honefenger

The former Houstonian, who played a variety of roles in our wine community for many years, has resettled in Portland with a new wife and become a winemaker. Honefinger’s Wild Child Winery has a Gamay and a Pinot Noir on offer for $28 with more Willamette Valley wines coming soon. He’ll be visiting Houston next week, so I’m hoping to catch up with him. Check out his website: wildchildwinecompany.com      

Pouring one out for . . . Steve Worster

Before there was Earl Campbell, there was Steve Worster. Big Woo was a load, too, believe me. Like the Tyler Rose became in the mid-1970s, Worster was The Man for Texas Longhorns teams that won 30 consecutive games and two national championships in 1968-70. He made the Wishbone offense — but the Wishbone offense made him, too. Unlike Campbell, a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer, he never found stardom as a pro. In fact, he never played a down in the NFL.      

Sippin’ with sporty

Bubbles 

Madame Zéro Champagne – You’ll be reading a lot more about Matthew Massey in my blog going forward, but I wanted to introduce to this outstanding bottle of bubbles post haste because, well, as Charles Barkley used to say, “Life is short and death is long.” The “zero,” of course, references the dosage, or lack thereof, that arguably makes Massey’s all-chardonnay sparkler, with almost no sugar in the mix, a health drink. That was his intention. The 39-year-old Galveston native – yep, Ball High School – is a workout nut, too. In short, he’s an amazing story and I can’t wait to tell it. But don’t wait to buy the wine, a for-real value a $56.99 on the shelf at Spec’s.               

Rosé

2020 Caves d’Esclans Whispering Angel Côtes de Provence– Sacha Lichine’s famous Provençal pink, a major player in the world’s 21^st century rosé renaissance, never disappoints. The critic James Suckling scored this vintage a 92, touting the grenache, cinsault and vermentino blend’s “very pale apricot-pink color (with) delicate aromas of sliced apple, pink grapefruit, peach, cream and stones (that) follow through to a medium body and crisp acidity. Deliciously creamy and smooth.” Note that Suckling also gave the 2021, which you’re probably seeing more of on the shelves these days, a 92. The gorgeous estate, acquired by Lichine in 2006, is northeast of St. Tropez overlooking La Vallée d’Esclans with the Mediterranean coast just visible in the distance. 

White

2020 Kosta Browne One-Sixteenth Chardonnay Russian River Valley – Kosta Browne is, of course, best known for its pinot noirs. Fact is I’d never tasted one of the chardonnays until this one. In a word, wow! The winemaker, Julien Howsepian, says his wine “is rich and lean with laser focus, and a minerality that calls to mind a ‘salt of the earth’ country ballad. Excellent structure, weight, and super balanced–a delicious heartfelt chardonnay.” The fruit was sourced from eight name-brand Russian River Valley vineyards and six of the most famous chardonnay clones were utilized. What could possibly go wrong? Absolutely nothing, it seems. But it’s pricey – $99 at wine.com

Red

2018 Papa Pietro-Perry Pinot Noir Russian River Valley – Another personal “discovery,” this one. (I gotta get out more!) Also a blend of multiple vineyards and clones – vinification of each was done separately – the juice spent 11 months in French oak, a third new. The wine packs a hefty flavor punch with red fruit galore. And the winery’s back story might even be better than the wine. Founded in Ben and Yolanda Papapietro’s San Francisco garage, the winery became a viable business in 2000 and has been earning accolades ever since. Ben’s love of pinot noir dates to his first tasting 1950s French burgundies and he remains inspired by same today. $61 at papapietro-perry.com

H-Town Happenings

* Night in Santiago: Camerata, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 6-8 p.m. Free admission. 713-522-8466 or cameratahouston.com

* Cheers for Charity benefitting Second Chances: Red Oak Ballroom at Norris Conference Centers at CityCentre. 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10. eventbrite.com

* Crack Open the Case night: Exploring Wagner Family Wines: JMP Tasting Room, Humble. 6:30 p.m. Thursday, September 15. Starts at $50. eventbrite.com 

* Indulge Your Palate: A Food, Beer & Wine Tasting Festival: The Health Museum. 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29. Starts at $30. eventbrite.com

Follow me

* Podcast: Sporty Wine Guy

* Instagram: sportywineguy

* Twitter: @sportywineguy

* Facebook: Dale Robertson

Follow these folks, too

* Jeremy Parzen (dobianchi.com) – My Podcast partner in crime goes slightly off topic and gets us up to speed on the rescue of a wild boar that got trapped in Milan’s canal system. You can catch our conversations wherever you get your podcasts at “Sporty Wine Guy.”

* Sandra Crittenden (winelifehouston.com) – Sandra tasted with native Houstonian and newly hatched winemaker Jonathan Honefenger, who has moved to Portland and launched his Wild Child lineup of Oregon wines.

* Russ Kane (vintagetexas.com) – The Texas Wineslinger looks at Texas’ 2022 harvest, said to be an excellent one but also one that’s wrapping up early.

* Jeff Kralick (thedrunkencyclist.com) – Jeff runs through a list of wines that have gotten him excited of late.

* Katrina Rene (thecorkscrewconcierge.com) – Kat also weighs in the 2022 Texas harvest.