Hip-hop superstar 50 Cent (née, Curtis Jackson) loves the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo Uncorked! Champion Wine Auction. Not only did the Houston-based musician and entrepreneur emerge as one of the top bidders at the event, which took place Sunday, February 26, he also produced the top winner in the Rodeo’s Uncorked! International Wine Competition.

As CultureMap has previously reported, the hip-hop mogul produced the competition’s Grand Champion Best of Show, Le Chemin du Roi Brut, Champagne AOC, NV. Seven Houstonians — Julie and Alan Kent, Randa and Ray Gilliam, Andrea and Bruce Bryant, and John M. Cotterell — spent a rodeo record $325,000 to purchase the award-winning bottle.

The winner bidders spent a Rodeo record $325,000.Courtesy of RodeoHouston

This year’s win built on the winery’s Chemin Du Roi Brut, Champagne AOC, Nevada, that took home the Reserve Grand Champion Best of Show prize in 2021.

In addition to taking the top winning wine, 50 Cent also purchased the 2023 Reserve Grand Champion Best of Show, Bernhardt Winery Antiquity Chardonnay Reserve, Danube Plain, 2020, for $165,000. Last year, the performer purchased the 2022 Top Texas Wine, a 2017 Hye Meadow Winery Boooom Red (Texas High Plains).

Overall, the 2023 Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition included 3,071 entries from 18 countries, including Argentina, Bulgaria, France, Israel, Italy, South Africa and Spain. Texas wineries contributed 531 of those entries, and Australia, this year’s featured region, produced 160 entries.

Less wealthy rodeo attendees can still taste more than 75 of the award-winning wines at the Champion Wine Garden. Open daily throughout the rodeo’s run of February 28 - March 19, wine lovers may make reservations from a table for two up to a tent for 150.