Over A Dozen Houston Wine Pros Are Competing In The 2018 Sangria Throwdown
The 2017 Sangria Throwdown winners Manuel Hernandez and Nicolas Arteaga of River Oaks Country Club with past Women Of Wine Charities president Denise Ehrlich. Courtesy photo.
No one is going thirsty at this yearโs Women Of Wine Charities Sangria Throwdown. On Monday, June 11, 15 of Houstonโs best sommeliers and bartenders are all bringing their best wine-punch game to Mercedes Benz of Houston Greenway from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thatโs a whole lot of sangria.ย (Note the location is different that in years past.)
The popular yearly event, hosted by Women Of Wine Charities, raises money for the Houston Area Womenโs Center. The competition categories are Peopleโs Choice, Judges’ Most Creative and Judges’ Top Sangria awards. First-place winners in 2017, respectively, were Beaverโs, River Oaks Country Club and Haroldโs Restaurant & Tap Room.
All of last yearโs winning restaurants are returning to defend their titles โ and thereโs a ton of talented competition.

Hereโs the big group of contenders:
- CRU Food & Wine Bar, Annette Amaya
- 13 Celsius, Adele Corrigan & Carleigh Rice
- Sonoma Wine Bar, Farrah Cauley
- River Oaks Country Club, Nicolas Arteaga and Manuel Hernandez
- The Barking Pig, Kristin Powell
- Haroldโs Restaurant & Tap Room, Alli Jarrett and Ashley Nichols
- AQUI, Leslie Krockenbeger (formerly Ross)
- The Forest Club, Garland McClure
- Railean Distillery and Buccaneer Bar, Kelly Railean and James Bradshaw
- Beaverโs, Joseph Medrano
- Weights + Measures, Nicole Meza
- Ricoโs Morning, Noon & Night, Jason Gould
- Specโs Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods, Bear Dalton
- Hugoโs, Ricky Gonzales and Jimmy Adamson
- Avenida Brazil Churrascaria Steakhouse, Vanderlei Bernardi
In addition to some over-the-top table decorations, expect to try both very traditional sangrias that use white, red and rosรฉ wines as foundations and some very creative takes that push the definition of what is and is not a sangria. Regardless of the approach, balance is key โ and that might be one of the qualities on the judgesโ minds. The judges this year are Phaedra Cook of Houston Food Finder (yes, thatโs me โ the sucking-up can begin any time now), Cleverley Stone of โCooking With Cleverleyโ on Fox 26 and host of The Cleverley Show on CBS 650 radio, Taylor-Byrne Dodge of My Table, and writer and food historian David Leftwich, who is a regular contributor to the Houston Chronicle and Edible Houston.
Tickets to taste the 15 different sangrias from these top Houston pros are $70 plus online ticket fee. If you canโt attend but still want to help the Houston Area Womenโs Center, thereโs also an option to donate $45 to provide a safe night. Undoubtably, thereโs a lady out there right now who could use your help getting out of a bad situation.
Update, 6/6/2018, 2:24 p.m.: Article corrected to reflect there are only three competition categories just like last year, not four.ย
Phaedra Cook has written about Houston’s restaurant and bar scene since 2010. She was a regular contributor to My Table magazine (now closed) and was the lead restaurant critic for the Houston Press for two years, eventually being promoted to food editor. Cook founded Houston Food Finder in November 2016 and has been its editor and publisher ever since.
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