Back after a two-year hiatus, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is already breaking records. A group of Houstonians and a rap star made rodeo history at the recent 2022 Rodeo Uncorked! Champion Wine Auction & Dinner at NRG Center with their Texas-sized wine purchase.
Andrea and Bruce Bryant, John M. Cotterell, Julie and Alan Kent, and Kristina and Paul Somerville lassoed a 2017 J. Lohr Vineyards Cuvee PAU Red (Paso Robles) for $250,000 during the 2022 Best of Show auction — a rodeo record.
Not far behind was the 2022 Reserve Grand Champion Best of Show selection, a 2018 Nice Winery Cabernet Franc (Paicines). That winning bid was $200,000, going to Amegy Bank of Texas, Lisa M. Blackwood, Fidelis New Energy, LLC, and Randa and Ray Gilliam.
This year’s competition featured 2,862 entries from 17 countries, including France, Spain, Italy, Israel, Peru, Argentina, and South Africa. Some 480 entries were from Texas wineries, according to a press release.
Meanwhile, a familiar — and famous — face surfaced at the wine auction and dinner. Rapper 50 Cent (Curtis Jackson) nabbed the 2022 Top Texas Wine, a 2017 Hye Meadow Winery Boooom Red (Texas High Plains).
The rapper and occasional Houstonian noted on Twitter that his purchase cost “more than a Rolls Royce.”
so i finally won a bid at the win auction, your a nobody till you win a bid at the wine auction. now i have bottle of wine that cost more then Rolls Royce. 😕i just got excited. #bransoncognac #lecheminduroi pic.twitter.com/uNktRAzd00
— 50cent (@50cent) February 28, 2022This is hardly 50 Cent’s first rodeo. The rap star famous for jams such as the head-bobbing “In Da Club” took the title of Reserve Grand Champion Best of Show in the 2021 Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition for his Le Chemin du Roi, Champagne AOC, (NV), as CultureMap reported.
“When they told me I won, I almost fainted. I was really excited,” Jackson said in May 2021. “I am very proud of this.”
No word as to when 50 plans to pop those bottles in da club.
50 Cent lassoed the Top Texas Wine winner.
