Wine Garden

Joe Van Matre, Susan C., Robyn Hoban, J.W. Daubert, Chris Merkl, Tracy Glesby and John McAleer (from left) are on the Rodeo Uncorked! Wine Garden Committee of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. (Photo: www.hartphoto.com)

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is known for its rogue broncs, side-winding bulls, cold brew, carnival and barbecue – it would seem more than a hair far-fetched to also stumble onto a sublime Pinot or a monster Merlot.

But those boot-wearing guests craving a blowout Bordeaux can go ahead and pinch themselves. Because sandwiched between NRG Stadium and the Astrodome in the sculpture garden of Carruth Plaza, among bronzes depicting Western heritage, is the Champion Wine Garden. A surprise to some of those who stumble across it, this quaint outdoor seating area with live music is home to divine vintages from across the globe.

“Most people have the wrong impression about it. They think it’s only going to be Texas wines,” said Wine Garden Committee member Chris Merkl, a neuropsychiatrist who discovered the Wine Garden as a customer. He was sold and joined the volunteer committee, starting out as a greeter. “Their eyes just light up because they just didn’t expect that kind of thing at the rodeo.”

The Wine Garden is open every day of the rodeo, 4-11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 4-midnight on Friday, 11 a.m.-midnight on Saturday and noon-10 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is free to anyone who already has a park admission or a rodeo ticket. Wine is purchased with $2 tickets. The wine doesn’t have to be consumed in the Garden; you can walk around the rodeo grounds with it, but chances are you might want to just sit and relax.

“The setting is so pretty. We have fountains and the horse statues and really incredible live entertainment every day,” said John McAleer, the owner of Buffalo Grille who joined the committee in its infancy and is now vice chairman of shifts. “A lot of people just end up staying out there. Once the rodeo show starts you would expect the place to clear out. We announce to them (customers) that the show is starting. And they say you know, we’re pretty happy right here.”

It was just 11 years ago the Houston rodeo embraced the vintner’s craft as an event. What started out as a single wine committee back then has now branched out into four different committees: Wine Competition, Winery Relations, Wine Sales and Events, and Wine Garden.

The Wine Garden came along just eight years ago with a single 400-square-foot tent and a dozen small tables. There were evenings where no more than a dozen bottles of wine were sold. But like a good Cabernet that matures with age, so has the Wine Garden. Now it encompasses 60,000 square feet, with five tents and bars, a sponsor tent and more than 175 tables. Last year, the Wine Garden sold more than 20,000 bottles of wine in the three weeks it was open.

This year, the Champion Wine Garden will feature 67 of the award-winning wines from the Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition held in November. There were more than 2,500 entries, including wines from 43 Texas wineries and 16 different countries. A representation of those wines are selected and sold at the garden, including the Grand Champion Best of Show, a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon called Diamond Selection from Rombauer Vineyards, which will sell for $80 a bottle. The Top Texas Wine, Driftwood Estate Winery Longhorn Red, will also be for sale in limited supply for $70 a bottle. Other wines on the list – sparkling, whites, reds and dessert – will cost $18-100 per bottle, tax included.

“I do try to keep the pricing reasonable,” said Wine Garden Committee chair J.W. Daubert, an accountant by day who devotes unlimited hours of his numbers-sense to making sure the Wine Garden is a fruitful experience for guests. “It’s really easy to put high-end wines on the list that are popular. But we also need to be cognizant of the folks who are going to equally enjoy an $18 bottle of Prosecco.” 

And make no mistake about those reasonably priced bottles. All the wine here has been carefully sampled and selected. Joe Van Matre is the vice president and officer in charge of Rodeo Uncorked! He is an oil man, real-estate investor and one of the original wine committee members. He knows a thing or two about wine, with thousands of bottles in his own personal cellars.

“To really appreciate the wine garden it helps to know where it came from. It is part of a long process and the work of all the other wine committees, from the wine competition to wine sales to the wine events,” said Van Matre. “Hundreds of volunteers who serve on these other wine committees assist with an elaborate process of registering entries, judging, coordinating and then buying and selling.”

It all leads to the Wine Garden, where trained volunteers focus both on the patrons who know what they want, an award-winning Pinot or buttery Chardonnay perhaps, to those who want to try something new.

Buzz-area resident Robyn Hoban sells software for a technology company. It’s a demanding job but she clears her schedule in March so she is available for multiple shifts as in the Wine Garden as a table server and bartender. Her job requires a lot of travel to California; so she thought she was familiar with wine until she started her education at Rodeo Uncorked! 

“This has been an opportunity for me to learn a lot more about wine. We take classes, and once we get the list of the wines we will be serving, we have wine tastings. We had one recently at our team captain’s house. Everybody brought a bottle that’s on the list so when we’re in the Wine Garden we can actually tell people about the wines we are featuring. A lot of the people know what they want and they are very wine educated, but other people are there to learn and try something new.”

The Wine Garden committee is made up of 375 volunteers, mostly young professionals. There are bigger committees like the Corral Club, which runs all the bars at the rodeo and boasts a whopping 2,600 members. But Wine Garden was No. 1 first choice for more than 250 volunteers who were wait listed. And that’s out of 108 committees available.

Rookie Tracy Glesby, who works in real estate, was lucky enough to be one of those granted a badge and can’t wait to serve. “Inside of me is a tiny little Jewish woman who loves to cook for 20 people at once and host dinner parties and entertain. The Wine Garden Committee is that on steroids. I cannot wait to serve people and entertain. I love wine, so this is my kind of crowd,” said Glesby. 

Wine Committee volunteers, like other volunteers, contribute to the rodeo’s charitable efforts to raise money for scholarships.

“I do love wine, and volunteering on the committee satisfies my social needs. But mainly I get a spiritual boost from helping the kids in need and helping to fulfill their dreams,” said Buzz-area resident Susan C., who volunteers on the Wine Garden, Scholarship Judging, and Wine Sales and Events committees.

“When you get an opportunity to meet someone who has received a rodeo scholarship and they tell you that it made a difference between them getting a higher education or not and they have no reason to lie to you about it,” said Daubert, “that’s what makes those nights standing out in the cold and rain worth it.”

Not all rodeo-goers tromping past cow patties and cotton candy will bypass a Bud to enjoy a stemless glass of wine. But plenty will. And who would have thought school artwork would have generated the millions it does for rodeo scholarships either? Wine and art at the rodeo – perhaps rookie Glesby said it best. “I think our Houston rodeo is a classier version of any rodeo. Everything about it is first class.”

Wine Garden entertainment

Bands play 6-11 p.m. every night and, on weekends, also 1-4 p.m.

March 3    Matt Caldwell Band
March 4     Wade Andrew Smith & Driftwood
March 5     Rita Hardt & The Rhinestones
March 6    The Grateful Geezers
March 7    Morgan McKay, Acoustical, Gary Kyle Band
March 8    The Stringbenders, Libby Koch
March 9    100 Miles Gone
March 10    The Emotions Band
March 11    Chad Ware
March 12    The Drugstore Gypsies
March 13    Yelba
March 14    The Rankin Twins, Matt Caldwell Band
March 15    Tejano Day (multiple bands)
March 16    Jody Booth Band
March 17    Morgan McKay & The Double Barrel Band
March 18    Yelba
March 19    Libby Koch
March 20    The Steve Helms Band
March 21    The Steve Helms Band, Wade Andrew Smith & Driftwood
March 22    The Cadillac Band, Kim Carson

Editor’s note: The Buzz Magazines would like to thank the McAleer family for letting us take photos at the beautiful Frost/McAleer Pecan Acres Ranch. Buffalo Grille owner John McAleer’s grandfather, Vernon Frost, was a lifetime rodeo vice president who rode on the early Salt Grass Trail Ride and proposed changing the name of the then-Fat Stock Show.

Also, check out the 2015 International Wine Judging Competition’s winning wines.