It is a truth universally acknowledged that Houston has the most grandiose rodeo that has ever been. If you doubt this, the press release handed out by the public relations firm currently representing the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo states quite clearly that the event is “the largest livestock show and rodeo in the world.” For those who have not attended, much less participated in the volunteer work, calling this event simply “a rodeo” is like calling World War II a disagreement.

Everywhere on the Rodeo grounds — set this coming year for February 28 through March 18, 2012 — there is some sort of competition. There are competitions among barbeque-ers on the Reliant Stadium parking lot. Cowpersons compete against each other and the large, irritated animals they mount. Various fatted calves and pens of rabbits compete against each other for awards declaring them to be the fattest or the most rabbity. Wealthy business people compete to bid the most egregiously excessive amount of money for the winning steer or case of wine – and wine is the subject of this blog – and, behind the scenes, 24,000 volunteers engage in quiet, unspoken competitions to be recognized as the volunteer-iest.

Since the event began in the late 1930s, Texas has changed immensely. For instance, when the Rodeo began, there was one winery in the state, near Laredo, that produced wines mostly for sacramental use. (Those who have tasted that winery’s output have perhaps wondered, as one writer did, if more than one crisis of faith was engendered in celebrants of the Eucharistic Mystery by the wine’s taste.) In the 1970s, changes in laws governing alcohol as well as technological advances in wine-making led to a few new vineyards being planted in Texas. The Houston Rodeo added a wine-tasting competition in 2004, when the state had more than 100 established wineries. Eight years later, according to Stephanie Earthman Baird, chairman of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Wine Competition Committee, there are 250 Texas wineries.

Recently, Ms. Baird, who is an owner and president of a Houston wine importing and distribution company, BevCo International, took time to explain to a group of wine competition noobs a few key facts about the Rodeo wine competition and to demonstrate the process by which a certain sort of order is created out of a chaotic mass of wine entries. According to Baird, there were 1,787 entries in the 2011 competition and there were about 2,500 entries in the 2012 contest. The tasting for the competition has already been held, this past November 12 and 13, even though the Rodeo proper does not begin until the end of February.

Not only Texas wines are judged. There are wines from all over the United States submitted by hopeful wineries, and each year a wine-producing foreign country is chosen for representation. For 2012, that country is France.

In a Rodeo room at the Reliant Center recently, Baird explained the process of organizing a double blind tasting that guarantees the judges do not know the winery names associated with the liquid in their glasses. Taking sips from a glass of red liquid, she threw out a stream of factoids that included the impressive number of 20,000 – for the number of glasses washed during the tasting by Rodeo volunteers. Other numbers included the sum of $50, which is the entry fee for a winery’s product (per type, plus five bottles for the judges to sample).

We also learned how many bronze, silver and gold medals are handed out – 1,146 for this year’s event, meaning pretty much every winery enjoyed a happy ending. Texas being Texas, the super top scorers also are awarded fancy belt buckles, chaps and saddles.

At the Rodeo, the top winner wines will ultimately be auctioned off for prices that are often vastly above the retail value, but that is a game for millionaires. For the rest of the Rodeo attendees, there will be a Wine Garden set up on the Reliant Center/Astrodome grounds where the gold medal-winning wines are on sale in two-ounce, five-ounce or full-bottle amounts. And, as one of the requirements for a wine entered into the contest is that it be available for retail sale in the Houston market, the judges’ choices can be acquired by local oenophiles elsewhere.

Rodeo wine events to watch for:

Rodeo Uncorked! and Best Bites Competition on Sunday, February 19, 2012. It’s an enormous food and wine extravaganza, open to the public. Scores of Houston restaurants bring tastes, and the wineries pour generously. Last year some 4,000-plus guests attended.

Rodeo Uncorked! Champion Wine Auction and Dinner on Saturday, March 3, 2012. This exclusive dinner – wear your best Western duds – finishes up with a live auction of wines and wine-related packages.