A Fine-Wine Tailgate for a Football Showdown
Collegetown ain't what it used to be. Tailgating at LSU from a Hummer packed with high-end wines
Posted: Oct 16, 2012 3:30pm ET
Tailgating is religion in Baton Rouge, La., and when
it comes to a huge game between national championship contenders, the Tiger
faithful pull out all the stops. Some of them even pull a few corks.
On Saturday night, the defending Southeastern
Conference Champion Louisiana State Tigers hosted the undefeated South Carolina
Gamecocks at Tiger Stadium, or as I've always known it, Death Valley. As the
saying goes here, "You don't just walk into Death Valley." Sometimes,
though, you drive up in a fine wine-laden white Hummer.
I've made it to at least one or two LSU football games
a year since before I can remember. This past weekend, I joined plenty of
family and old friends for the Gold Game, otherwise known as the Cock-a-Doodle
Stew on the Bayou, to cheer on my parents' alma mater.
Night-game
tailgates begin before noon. They almost inevitably feature a propane-powered
grill for cooking up huge vats of jambalaya and gumbo, a barbecue pit for the
boudin, ice chests stocked with beer and occasionally white wine, if not a keg,
and, of course, a gas-powered generator and a satellite dish to keep the
televisions showing all the early games. When I was a kid, those were the
high-end tents, but these days they're de rigueur. Today, you'll find
everything from the viral Internet sensation R2DKeg, a Star Wars-inspired
engineering marvel created by LSU-alum and artist Barton Gilley that distributes
beer on motion-sensor command (and shakes a tip cup), to tents outfitted with
white tablecloths, fine china and a chandelier.
A
few weeks before my trip, I'd mentioned to my Baton Rouge host for the weekend that
it would be interesting to talk to one of the fine-wine tailgaters that
surround Tiger Stadium on game day. He called Tiger Athletic Foundation president
Rick Perry and set me up for an afternoon with the LeBlancs. Drs. Andy and Lori
LeBlanc met in graduate school at LSU, and they've been holding their high-end
wine tailgate near the campus Indian mounds for 12 years. I met them at the
tail end of their enormous white Hummer on Saturday afternoon, where the Moët
& Chandon was the drink of choice, though Lori said Schramsberg is
occasionally on hand. "We bought this just for the tailgates!" said
Lori of the Hummer.
Andy
LeBlanc, now a successful Baton Rouge ENT, reached into the back of the LSU
logo-emblazoned truck (which had two flat-screen TVs playing the day's early
games inside it) to pull out the rest of the afternoon's cases of wine. Out
came Chardonnays from Frank Family, Far Niente and Heidi Barrett's Fantesca
label; reds from Ghost Block, Duckhorn, Round Pond, Reverie, Nickel &
Nickel, Whitehall Lane and many more. There was even a special-edition
LSU-branded bottle from Yakima Valley's Minick Vineyard that was made for the
game the Tigers played at the University of Washington in 2009. And it was
clear they weren't just pulling out "name brand" wines. Lori or Andy
had a story about visiting just about each of the wineries, and they tour Napa
Valley every other August.
At
some point, a very large gentleman slapped a "Beat the Cocks" sticker
on my chest. It was former LSU center Ruffin Rodrigue, a regular at the
LeBlancs' tailgate who now runs one of Baton Rouge's better restaurants for
wine, Ruffino's, which holds a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence. When I introduced myself, he
grinned from ear to ear and declared, "I sold 200 bottles of wine last night!"
Baton
Rouge may be a college town, but it seems most of the LSU community never
leaves (or is at least always coming back), and their tastes have matured.
Restaurants like Ruffino's, Juban's (Best of Award of Excellence) and Mansur's
(Award of Excellence) have been steadily raising the bar for Baton Rouge
cuisine, and a new crop of young chefs like Elton Hyndman at Nino's and Nathan
Gresham (formerly of Galatoire's in New Orleans) at Beausoleil are pushing the
envelope further, devoting their menus to the freshest seasonal ingredients and
innovative, exciting takes on French, Italian and Cajun classics.
I imagine there are some impressive wine-and-food tailgates (and
restaurants) cropping up in some Pac-12 college towns too. What are you eating
and drinking when cheering on your alma maters?
Robert, I think we (King Estate Winery in Oregon) have the best wine + football tailgate in America. Let us know if you ever have occasion to come join us or email info@kingestate.com if you are interested in more information about the unique tailgate we host at every home game.
Go Ducks!
- Sasha