Conroe Courier November 21, 2023

Texas wineries earned 602 medals at the recent blind judging of the Houston Rodeo Uncorked International Wine Competition held at the NRG Center.

There were 2,985 entries from 22 countries with Texas representing 18 percent of those entries that were judged blindly by multiple panels of judges during the weekend of Nov. 10-12.

These wines were judged blindly with rigid procedures to ensure the wines were being tasted and judged without any hint of which wines were being evaluated. Wines are poured in one room in numbered glasses placed on carts which are taken by a different person to the judges in various rooms so nobody knows what they are tasting.

The judges tally their scores individually which are then provided to an independent auditing firm to tally the results. The results were then converted from numbers to the names of the wineries and the respective wine so complete anonymity is provided in establishing the result. 

The Houston Rodeo Uncorked 2024 Grand Champion Wine was Beau Joie Brut Champagne NV with the Reserve Grand Champion being Smith-Madrone Riesling Spring Mountain District (2018).

The 2024 Rodeo Uncorked Champions will be featured at Houston Rodeo Uncorked Events in 2024, hence they are called the 2024 Champions.

The Best Bites event is Feb. 18, 2024, Wine Dinner and Auction is Feb. 25 and featured daily in the Champion Wine Gardens during the 2024 Houston Rodeo. The top Texas Wines at the 2023 wine judging included:

• Top Texas Wine – Meirstone Vineyards The Airship Red, 2021 from the Texas High Plains.
• Top White Wine – Perrissos Vineyards Winemaker’s Reserve Pape Blanc 2022 form High Plains
• Top All Around Winery – Nice Winery of Houston earning 45 medals
• Top Texas Winery – Becker Vineyards earning 22 medals

By the way, Texas wineries earned a total of 19 Double Gold Medals, 71 Gold Medals, 376 Silver Medals and 176 Bronze Medals. The judged quality of Texas wines is definitely improving as the Texas wine industry ages, becoming more knowledgeable and quality oriented. 

Ron Saikowski may be reached at rsaikowski@comcast.net.Â