While Dee Lincoln Prime in The Star in Frisco is known for its fine steaks, as well as serving as a favorite fine dining establishment for the Dallas Cowboys, the highly esteemed steak house offers an extensive wine list. Dee Lincoln Prime’s wine cellar boasts a collection of more than 2,000 wine bottles from all parts of the world. Dee Lincoln Prime’s in-house sommelier Randolph Hollo has tried almost all of these wines, allowing him the ability to easily distinguish each one by flavor, scent and nuance.
“There’s nothing like a well-marbled piece of meat with a cabernet sauvignon,” says Hollo.
Hollo first became fascinated with wine when he was a teenager.
“This was when it was legal to drink wine at 18, back in the ’70s,” Hollo says. During family gatherings, like Easter, we had wine, but it wasn’t good wine, and I knew there had to be something better out there.”
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Hollo later began sommelier training under the instruction of Becky Murphy of Universal Restaurant Group. Murphy was the first female sommelier in the United States.
In the ’80s, Hollo began working for Dee Lincoln at Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse’s second location on Belt Line Avenue in Addison. He would switch between Del Frisco’s Belt Line Location and their flagship Lemmon Avenue location in Dallas.
“This was before they had their wine program,” Hollo says. “Del Frisco’s started their wine program in the ’90s, when they opened their Spring Valley location.”
Having traveled to various wine districts around the world, Hollo believes that California has had the most significant impact on wine production, citing modern machinery as the key.
“Back in the day, Italian whites would not be crisp and clean like they are today,” Hollo says. “They were slightly maderized and oxidized. With stainless steel fermenters, winemakers are able to control fermentation create a better quality wine. Wine production has truly improved over the past 40 to 50 years, thanks to California. The entire world has benefitted from it.”
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Hollo says his favorite kind of wine depends on whatever mood he’s in that day, however, he is quite fond of red.
“The doctors say the tannins in red wine help reduce the fat in your blood system,” Hollo says. “In France, you see they eat a lot of bread, cheese and butter, but the red wine they drink helps create a balance.”
In Dee Lincoln Prime’s wine cellar are state-of-the-art Wineemotion machines. The Wineemotion machines are stainless steel wine dispensers which pour out one-ounce wine samples and six-ounce servings of wine.
“This is something Dee Lincoln has been using for 10 years,” Hollo says. “They allow us to serve our top tier wines at a low price and an optimal temperature.”
I try a glass of the cabernet sauvignon, which dispenses at a fairly chilly, but not too cold, temperature. I note that I can taste hints of cocoa in the wine.
“All of those subtle nuances are due to barrel aging,” Hollo says. “You get all of these nice, rich dark flavors like blueberry, blackberry and cocoa. Good wine spends about 18-22 months in a barrel.”
I leave our interview impressed by Hollo’s knowledge of wine and wonderstruck by Dee Lincoln Prime’s incredible selection.
Randolph Hollo is available at Dee Lincoln Prime six nights a week, to answer any and all of your wine-related questions.
