Houston-based rap mogul 50 Cent lassos top honors at annual Rodeo Uncorked! wine competition

Rodeo Uncorked! 2023 Le Chemin du Roi Brut

Fiddy won big with his Le Chemin du Roi Brut.

Image courtesy of RodeoHouston

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo 2023 doesn't kick off again until February 28, but as any longtime Houstonian knows, rodeo season is all year.

With that in mind, the rodeo has announced winners from the annual Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition. Top honors of Grand Champion Best of Show went to famed Newstonian and rap star/businessman/occasional TV host Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and his Le Chemin du Roi Brut, Champagne AOC, NV.

Jackson, an ardent rodeo fan, also won Reserve Grand Champion Best of Show in 2021 for the Le Chemin du Roi Brut, as CultureMap previously reported. No stranger to Texas-sized spending on grapes, he bid and won on a 2017 Hye Meadow Winery Boooom Red (Texas High Plains), which he noted on Twitter costs “more than a Rolls Royce.”

Meanwhile, the 2023 Reserve Grand Champion Best of Show was awarded to Bernhardt Winery Antiquity Chardonnay Reserve, Danube Plain, 2020, per the rodeo.

“The 2023 Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition featured an incredible selection of wines from around the world, with Le Chemin du Roi Brut, Champagne AOC, NV, taking home the top prize as Grand Champion Best of Show,” said Chris Boleman, rodeo president and CEO, in press materials.

This year’s competition at NRG Center boasted 3,071 entries from 18 countries, including Argentina, Bulgaria, France, Israel, Italy, South Africa, and Spain. Some 160 entries hailed from this year’s featured region, Australia.

Notably, 531 of those entries were from Texas wineries. For a full list of winners, visit the Rodeo Uncorked! winners site.

Standing Ovation

Inside the elegant dinner celebrating Jones Hall’s transformation

Photo by Dave Rossman

Judy and Don Fernbach; Robert and Kate Eubanks; Amanda Clayton and Kaitlyn Hunt.

For nearly six decades, Jones Hall has hosted standing ovations, curtain calls, and goosebump-inducing performances. On May 4, the spotlight shifted from the stage to the people and institutions who helped usher Houston’s cultural living room to its next act.

More than 40 guests gathered inside the renovated Jones Hall lobby for an intimate dinner celebrating the donors, stakeholders, and arts leaders behind the Foundation for Jones Hall’s sweeping $67.5 million facelift. Attendees in cocktail attire mingled over a red-carpet reception while pianist Jayoung Hong provided a charming soundtrack appropriate for an evening about Houston’s performing arts future.

As guests settled in for a dinner by City Kitchen, Foundation for Jones Hall board chair Barbara McCelvey reflected on the project’s decade-long journey, one that weathered Hurricane Harvey, a pandemic, and the delicate balancing act of renovating an active venue without dimming the marquee. She acknowledged the support and partnership of the Houston Symphony, Performing Arts Houston, Houston First, Houston Endowment, and management consultant Kim Sterling.

Lead donor and building committee chair Chuck Davidson spoke candidly about the project’s evolving ambitions, noting that the original $25 million vision eventually expanded into a far more comprehensive undertaking focused on acoustics, accessibility, technology, infrastructure, and audience experience. The result is a reimagined Jones Hall with enhanced patron spaces, improved sound quality, updated backstage operations, additional lounges and restrooms, and expanded accommodations for guests with disabilities.

Foundation for Jones Hall executive director and renovation project manager Robert Eubanks offered heartfelt thanks to the many partners who shepherded the project forward.

“More than 400,000 people come to Jones Hall annually,” Eubanks said. “Thank you for making this possible.”

He also recognized incoming foundation chair Brad Corson, arts patrons and sponsors Nancy and Chuck Davidson, Phoebe and Bobby Tudor, Jane Cizik, Janet Clark, Barbara Burger, Mary Lynn Marks, ConocoPhilips, and Elisa Villanueva Beard and Bao-Long Chu of the Houston Endowment.

CultureMap seen were Gary Ginstling, Meg Booth, Deborah Lugo, Judy and Don Fernbach, Kate Eubanks, Amanda Clayton, Kaitlyn Hunt, Ginger Clark, Melanie Cizik, Jennifer Renner, Khao Dao, and Pat McCelvey.

Photo by Dave Rossman

Judy and Don Fernbach; Robert and Kate Eubanks; Amanda Clayton and Kaitlyn Hunt.