Corn Dogs and Vino: Pairing rodeo food and wine

For some people, the Houston Rodeo kicked off in November with the Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition. That’s when Tamara Atkins started planning for her wine and carnival food seminar. 

You heard right – award-winning wine with deep-fried Oreos and corn dogs. Wine and food pairings don’t have to be fancy. Some of the best combos are with casual grub. Plus, these Stetson-donned oenophiles are believers that wine goes with everything. Tamara and her guests have many belly laughs at this popular seminar. It’s hard not to have a good time eating corn dogs while sipping pinot noir. That’s the vino the Memorial-area resident recommends with this carnival staple. Pinot noir’s light-to-medium weight, smooth tannins, and juicy berry profile are universally corn dog-friendly. 

Tamara’s seminar is one of 16 held at the Champion Wine Garden presented by Frost Bank during the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo at NRG Park, taking place through March 17. The wine garden in the Carruth Plaza is a verdant refuge featuring live entertainment and award-winning wine by the glass and bottle.

A RETREAT AT RODEO Many rodeo-goers consider the Wine Garden a retreat. Rodeo Uncorked! wine expert Tamara Atkins with her granddaughter, Emily, in the Wine Garden, which is family-friendly to attend but 21+ to drink or attend seminars.

Tamara was one of the original 300 members who helped start the Rodeo Uncorked! competition in 2003. Five years later, they pitched a tent and called it the “wine garden.” It didn’t catch on right away. 

Just 10 years ago, Wine Garden Chairman Lindsay Wied stood outside, ringing a cowbell. She was a rookie volunteer back then, and “it was my job to convince people to come in,” the mom of three recalls, adding that now the wine garden frequently reaches total capacity with couples and families who consider it a retreat. Lindsay has recently noticed parents dropping their teenagers off at the carnival and making a beeline to the wine garden, where they can unwind over a cheese or charcuterie platter. 

Initially, the wine garden offered eight wines by the glass and bottle. But the little pop-up tent has morphed into a two-acre oasis with seven tents and two live entertainment stages featuring up-and-coming Texas talents. Nowadays, guests can sample upwards of 77 award-winning wines from $6 to $16 by the glass or ranging from $26 to $130 for the bottle. The wine menu has expanded exponentially, so several months before her presentation on March 8, Tamara diligently identified which whites and reds go best with carnival fare. A fan favorite, her program typically sells out. But, even if you can’t make it to the seminar, the wine garden allows attendees to bring in food so you can personalize your own carnival food and wine pairing. “We encourage it,” Chairman Lindsay says. “You can go anywhere on the grounds with a bottle or glass of wine except into the stadium. You can take it shopping, to the carnival, and to the exhibits. You can even, in the state of Texas, cork your bottle and take it home. You just can’t take it in the stadium. If you want to take wine home, purchase it after the concert.”

A couple dances at one of two live stages. (Photo: Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo)

One to consider is Houston-based Nice Winery, which garnered this year’s prestigious and coveted Top All-Around Winery at the blind-tasting Rodeo Uncorked! competition. Meanwhile, its "Ariana" Charity Wine for OpHeart, a white blend of grenache blanc and viognier grapes from Washington State, won a silver medal (sales of each bottle benefit the nonprofit OpHeart, which assists babies with congenital heart defects). Nice Winery co-founder and certified sommelier Ryan Levy was tasked with kicking off this year’s seminar program with a wine and artisan chocolate pairing, which sold out a month before the Rodeo started. Still, Ryan, a Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo college scholarship recipient in the early ’90s didn’t hesitate to share a few tips. 

“A good rule of thumb is to start with very high-quality chocolate. Just like wine, chocolate can be made in small batches without the addition of emulsifiers, preservatives, milk powders, and fillers,” says the Rice University graduate and winemaker, now 48.

What about the adage of pairing light chocolates with lighter wines and dark chocolates with darker, heavier wines?

 “My rule of thumb is to pair similar flavors together,” says Ryan. “Chardonnay can be creamy and buttery and pairs well with caramel-filled chocolate. Pinot noir pairs well with raspberry-infused dark chocolate. I love to pair my Nice Winery Malbec with dark chocolate with a kick of chipotle chili flakes. When in doubt, opt for darker chocolates with a minimum cacao content of 55 percent.” 

Wine is available by the glass and by the bottle at the Wine Garden. (Photo: Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo)

With the popularity of the chocolate and wine pairing, the organizers added a how-to on wine with seasonal cookies (aka Girl Scout cookies). This was challenging, admits Kelly Limbaugh, a specialist in Texas wine and vice chairman of the wine competition committee – wine entries.

The Memorial resident didn’t take the easy route. Pairing seasonal cookies with only dessert wines would have been a no-brainer. She wanted diversification. “So, there are congruent pairings, which means pairing sweet with sweet. You also have contrasting pairing, where you have a sweet and salty. Of the wines I selected to pair with my seasonal cookies, some are contrasting, and some are congruent. For instance, I have a lemon-flavored cookie I’m pairing with a wine that has a lot of lemon flavor. In another, I have an oatmeal cookie with a peanut butter filling. I’m pairing it with zinfandel, which typically has jammy flavors. I’m going for contrast here: a peanut butter theme.” 

Houston veteran wine expert Carl Chargois’s “Food and Wine Synergy” class will wrap up the wine garden's educational portion on March 16. It is a deep dive for people interested in taking the art of wine pairing to the next level. “People will learn which food and wine marry well. But it is also intended to help people understand what doesn’t work,” says the superintendent of Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition. “Why doesn’t it go well together? What is a conflict on the palate?” 

Texas wine expert and Spanish wine scholar Kelly Limbaugh.

Most people have heard of the general food-and-wine guideline: Pair red wine with red meat and white wine with white meat. “Well, we’re going to break that down and show off why,” Carl says. 

Take, for example, an oily fish, such as an Alaskan king salmon, herring, or mackerel. People say never to marry red wine with fish for a reason, Carl says. “With an oily fish, like mackerel, the tannins in red wine, like a young chianti, will conflict like crazy in your mouth. It will taste like you’ve just licked a tin can. That’s one of the conflicts I’ll show you. But at the same time, oily fish – salmon and mackerel – pair well with softer reds such as pinot noir, depending on how you cook it.” 

He'll also illustrate misconceptions. “I’ll show why butter and cream go well with red wine. People think, ‘Oh, I have a brie cheese, and I must marry that with a chardonnay.’ Well, brie is very fatty. And a fatty flavor married to a fatty chardonnay will just taste like you’ve put a stick of butter in your mouth, and that’s not any fun. What’s a better option? A merlot and pinot noir. Remember how much you loved eating fresh strawberries dipped in whipped cream growing up? Same thing.” 

In addition, Carl will highlight wines from this year’s featured region, Chile, on March 5. In another, he’ll showcase several top sakes in the Rodeo Uncorked! competition. Meanwhile, Ryan, along with the chocolate and wine, has a program on pairing wine with tacos on March 3. Tamara’s husband, Bill, hosts one of the most popular seminars, wine and cheese, on March 6 and another on wine with Texas barbecue on March 13. Find a complete list of all the seminars at the wine garden at bit.ly/42ClUyi. Tickets for seminars range from $65-110.

The Champion Wine Garden is open Mondays-Thursdays, 4-11 p.m., Fridays, 2 p.m.-midnight, Saturdays, 11 a.m.-midnight, Sundays, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Admission to the Wine Garden is free. All ages are welcome to enter (21+ to drink). See rodeohouston.com for a schedule of live music. Read more about the Wine Garden's history in this 2015 feature by Michelle Groogan. 

Special Events in the Wine Garden

See the Rodeo's Wine Garden site for more. 

Texas Wine Celebration, Feb. 28, 4:30-6:30 p.m. A complimentary tasting of Texas wines from the Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition. Open to anyone age 21 and older on the grounds. Free.

R&B Brunch, March 3, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. There is a food truck, a special Brunch Bubble Flight available for purchase, and a great band on stage. Free. 

A Taste of Chile, March 5, 5-7 p.m. The Wine Garden Committee presents “A Taste of Chile” in the Hill Country Tent. Guests will taste seven wines from the featured region of Chile. $40. Register here: bit.ly/49RG6Ph

Latin Brunch, March 10, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. There is a food truck, a special Brunch Bubble Flight available for purchase, and a great band on stage. Free. 

Jazz Brunch, March 17, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. There is a food truck, a special Brunch Bubble Flight available for purchase, and a great band on stage. Free. 

Winemakers Corner – On most days of the show, Winemakers Corner will have a winery or distributor representative offering samples and providing information on one or more wines.

Editor’s note: Buzz dining columnist Dai Huynh is a James Beard food-journalism award winner and longtime Houston-based restaurant writer.