Chapters

The FUN Never Stops!

We just don’t know when to stop! With a large chapter and a very active membership, we are blessed with lots of opportunities to gather and it doesn’t take much for us to make plans to do just that!

The second half of 2019 was as busy as the first and started with our Ladies of the Knight coming together for Rosé All Day in July. We gathered at the home of Gentle Lady Kathy Long over some beautiful rosés and lots of appetizers prepared by the ladies. Always a great time and a perfect way to share news of what our chapter is doing in hopes of expanding our membership while enjoying a great time together!

August 10 and it was about 95° outside, but it was a wonderful 65° in our wine warehouse; site of our Annual Chapter Business Meeting. It’s a pot luck affair and there is more wonderful food than you can imagine! We pull out all the “leftover” bottles of wine from events during the prior year and it’s all available for this incredible evening of friendship! We visit, we eat, we drink and then we get down to the serious business of reviewing financials, discussing events of the last year (what we liked, didn’t like, new ideas for future events, etc.) and elect officers. In addition, we invited Miguel Cabrera from the University of Houston’s Conrad Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management to join us so we could present him a check to add to the Brotherhood of the Knights of the Vine endowment that we started years ago. It was our pleasure to increase that endowment by another $12,500 bringing the total now to just under $100,000 which includes matching funds from the Hilton Foundation.

In case you didn’t know, we really are cowboys and cowgirls here in Houston and so on September 26, we returned to the Republic Country Club for wine, barbeque and country music. Boots and hats were all the fashion and above the country music you heard lots of laughter as we thoroughly enjoyed the evening of wine, barbeque beef and chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and peach cobbler.

On October 15, the University of Houston’s Conrad N. Hilton School of Hotel and Restaurant Management celebrated its 50th Anniversary at a Gala Event at The Post Oak Hotel. As a strong supporter of this institution through our fundraising efforts for scholarships and the students’ participation in our Assemblage weekend events, we had the opportunity to attend and show our appreciation and build on this great relationship. While enjoying a delightful evening, we were also able to share information about our Brotherhood with many people there and, in fact, happily connected with one couple who ultimately did join our chapter. Among the fundraising activities that night was a $50 cork pull and a number of our members hit some home runs garnering some outstanding wines including a 1928 Chateau Lafite Rothschild from the university’s storied wine collection. More surprises that night included roaming tenors who totally entertained the crowd.

BY TRISH HAGNER

Wi t h a g e n e ro u s g i f t by Lady Master Commander Emeritus Gaye Platt, Texas A & M University’s Viticulture Department dedicated the Arthur and Gaye Platt Wine Fermentation Laboratory in College Station, Texas on October 18. The event was MC’d by Supreme Knight Dr. George Ray McEachern who told stories of the very beginning of the Texas wine industry and how Gaye and Arthur Platt and the Houston chapter of KOV all supported and promoted that industry. Also present were Supreme Knight and Supreme Lady Paul and Merrill Bonarrigo, Master Knight and Master Lady Paul M and Karen Bonarrigo, Houston Chapter’s Cellar Master Tom Feeney as well as lots of other friends of KOV and Texas A & M. Over the years, our Houston Chapter has provided financial support as well as encouragement to the university and its students, but this was truly a day to honor and appreciate all that was done under the guidance and leadership of Arthur and Gaye Platt.

October 19 and a return to the home of Knight and Gentle Lady Wolfgang and Leigh Ann Manz for our Wine-tober Fest! Perfect weather allowed a nice evening poolside to enjoy our German wines. Leigh Ann grilled the sausage and had prepared a fabulous buffet dinner that included the most delicious Germanstyle potato salad you have ever had. Of course, among the good eats in addition to the sausage, there were all kinds of great mustards, lentil soup, charcuterie,

sauerkraut, pretzel bites, cucumber salad and dessert. Our wines included several from Weingut W. Persch in Mittelrhein; a 2016 Riesling “Meisterstuck”, 2018 Riesling “Handstreich”, 2017 Riesling Spatlase HT “552”, and a 2018 Schonburger. We also enjoyed 2017 Robert Schatzle Pinot Noir Trocken (Baden), 2014 Weingut Hans Bausch Spatburgunder (Rheingau) and a 2016 Nikolaus N. Spatburgunder Trocken (Ahr).

Italy seems to be on our minds a lot lately! So, on November 12 we had 41 members and guests come together for an Italian Wine Dinner. Trish Hagner’s son, Bill Baldwin, offered the flex space at his office (Boulevard Realty) for the occasion and it was perfect! Caesar salad, Tuscan chicken and roasted potatoes were paired with wines from Italy. We started with Tutela Prosecco (Treviso), then moved on to 2018 Borgo Boschetto Pinot Grigio (Friuli), 2014 Selmo Chianti Riserva (Toscana), 2015 Montemecurio Tedicciolo (Toscana) and finished up with a little Il Gusta della Costa Limoncello (Amalfi Coast) in a souvenir glass.

continued >>> about, you ask? The evening’s events are in the home of legendary coach and great friends Wade and Laurie Phillips who have always been more than generous in hosting fun events for our members and guests in their home. It’s not every day you get to have a Super Bowl trophy as your centerpiece! We have no idea what the gentlemen were eating and drinking, but downstairs the ladies tasted though a lineup of affordable wines perfect for the holidays that included 2014 Louis Bouillot Brut Millesime (Burgundy), 2018 Gerd Anselmann Riesling Trocken Pfalz (Germany), 2018 Tuli Pinot Noir (Sonoma), 2017 San Gregorio Garnacha (Spain) and 2016 Chateau Feret-Lambert Grand Vin de Bordeaux (Bordeaux) paired with so much food deliciously and lovingly prepared to share.

One of our fun traditions is our Ladies of the Knight event in December where we gather annually on a Monday night. Why Monday? Well, while the ladies are downstairs enjoying an amazing assortment of beautiful and tasty foods brought to share, some of the fellas are upstairs in the game room and theatre watching Monday Night Football. So what’s that all

And the holiday season was just beginning! Once again we planned our Holiday Buffet Dinner at the home of Master Host Lee Slataper and his lady Laura. With a great buffet by Café Benedicte, we dined on cold boiled shrimp, cheese, fruit, dips, beef stroganoff, chicken Alfredo, grilled vegetables, crème brulee crepes and chocolate bites … and then there was the wine! All of our wines were from Piedmont, Italy; the region many of us will be visiting for the next FICB Congress. The featured wines were from Guidobono Winery and included a 2016 Segrete Vigne Extra Brut, 2018 Roero Arneis, Barbera D’Alba, 2018 Nebbiolo, and Barolo, Le Coste di Monforte. To add a new twist on the occasion and to get a jump on the new year, we sold raffle tickets for a very special gift of Sherwin Family Vineyards wine and 2 etched glasses. As you’ll see in the picture, the bottle is hand-etched and handpainted featuring the American flag. It was created in remembrance of those lost on September 11, 2001. The winners were new members Carolyn and Craig Blanchard. We also had a drawing from a fishbowl that had our guests’ names in it.

We had been encouraging our members to invite guests to help us increase membership; now it was time for a reward! The guest’s name drawn was Bartt Thompson and he and his wife, Deborah, were guests of Mark and Heidi Davis. Both couples received a nice bottle of Belle Glos Pinot Noir. And the best surprise is that shortly thereafter, Bartt and Deborah Thompson submitted their applications becoming our newest members!