Best Cellars, Iron Sommelier demonstrate Houston’s generosity.
Best Cellars, Iron Sommelier bring out best in wine community
Last fall, my two favorite charity wine soirées of the season almost landed on top of each other, at the same venue no less. But things got sorted out — wine folks tend to be amiable souls — and all went splendidly for the Best Cellars Dinner and the Iron Sommelier competition despite being held on back-to-back evenings at The Houstonian.
This year? They’ve got lots of elbow room. The Best Cellars bacchanal, featuring wines generously donated from some of the city’s finest private collections, will be Sept. 28 in Hotel ZaZa’s ballroom. The annual Iron Somm scrum, where 14 of our town’s best and brightest wine mavens duke it out on behalf of the Periwinkle Foundation, follows three weeks later on Oct. 20 at the Houstonian.
With the Houston economy currently a tad less robust than we’d prefer, separating the two seems a good idea. And why do I so love these events? Because they speak resoundingly to the depth, breadth and generosity of Houston’s world-class food and wine community.
At Best Cellars, benefitting the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center through the T. J. Martell Foundation, collectors host tables and share precious bottles. One host, for example, will present the 1998 Château Mouton Rothschild. Another is bringing a 1908 Madeira. I’m lugging in a couple of bottles of one of my all-time favorite Barbarescos, the 2009 Bruno Rocca Coparossa. And, for the moment, spots are open at all of our tables.
Further, a holy trinity of chefs, Philippe Verpiand of Étoile Cuisine et Bar, Luis Roger of BCN Taste & Tradition and Houston legend Mark Cox are handling the food. Rising young country crooner Craig Campbell is the featured entertainer.
The T. J. Martell Foundation is based in Nashville and was founded by country-music executive Tony Martell four decades ago to keep a promise to his young son, T. J., who, before dying of cancer, asked his father to do everything possible to help find a cure. Martell’s efforts since have raised close to $300 million for hospitals like MD Anderson that are doing the cutting-edge research. Specifically, proceeds will go to MD Anderson’s Physician Scientist Program, whose graduates go on to become leading independent translational cancer researchers.
Sure, $750 for a ticket is expensive. But I promise that a memorable experience will be had. For information or to secure seats, contact Ellie Francisco at ellie@ franciscoandco.com, call 866366-5274 or go to tjmartell.org.
At Iron Sommelier, Evan Turner of Helen Greek Food and Wine in Rice Village returns to defend his 2015 championship. Each contestant picks three wines from a specific region, genre or theme and attempts to convince both a panel of judges and guests that they’re the smartest person in the room. Also claiming victories a year ago were Adele Corrigan of 13 Celsius for Best Grand Tasting Room presentation and Fleming’s Sam Governale, who claimed the People’s Choice honors.
Corrigan is again in the mix, joined by Thomas Moësse of Divino; Brittany Brown of the Houstonian; Travis Hinkle of Hunky Dory, Bernadine’s, Foreign Correspondents and Down House; Samantha Porter of Oporto Fooding House, Oporto Wine Cafe and Queen Vic Pub & Kitchen; Brandon Kerne of Pappas Bros. Steakhouse; Shepard Ross of Pax Americana; Christian Varas of River Oaks Country Club; Angie Chang of Sonoma Wine Bar; Matt Crawford of State of Grace; Matthew Pridgen of Underbelly; and either Lindsay Thomas or new Texsom champ Rachel DelRocco of Camerata at Paulie’s.
The Periwinkle Foundation, founded in 1983, helps children and their families cope with the physical and emotional complications of battling cancer. Although more kids are beating the disease today than ever before, the battle still takes a fearsome toll on parents and siblings.
Tickets are $200 in advance. Fancy-pants options include visits to the Champions and Grand Tasting Rooms, ranging in price from $1,000 to $15,000. Go to periwinklefoundation.org for information or to purchase tickets.
dale.robertson@chron.com twitter.com/sportywineguy