2023 RodeoHouston wine festival champion sold for record $325,000

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- RodeoHouston officially kicks off in less than 24 hours, and the winning wines for the 2023 Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition have already been crowned.

Records were broken.

The competition's Grand Champion Best of Show sold for a rodeo record of $325,000. Rapper 50 Cent's Le Chemin du Roi Brut champagne was purchased by Klein real estate developer J. Alan Kent Development - Julie and Alan Kent, Randa and Ray Gilliam, Andrea and Bruce Bryant, and John M. Cotterell.

The 2023 Reserve Grand Champion, a 2020 Antiquity Chardonnay, went for $165,000 and was purchased by the rapper-turned-entrepreneur's Sire Spirits.

Last year, he paid $125,000 for the 2022 Top Texas Wine, a 2017 red from Hye Meadow Winery.

This year, there were 3,071 entries from 18 different countries.

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