Rum Runner

My mentor, Fritzy Haskell, was a rum runner, before she and Ben opened Haskell's Wine and Spirits in Minneapolis many years ago. Rum Runner in Tucson, Arizona reminds me a little of Haskell's. Of course, Fritzy directly imported many wines from small chateaux in France. This is almost unheard of today, although Mike Dodson in Seattle seems to accomplish this every year with Burgundy, as does North Berkeley Wines and Kermit Lynch.

Anyway, as I said the Rum Runner in Tucson sort of reminded me of Haskell's because of its broad selection of wine from California, Washington, Oregon, France, Spain, Italy and Australia. For a change, Australia did not have an in-your-face end display right in front of the store entrance. They had a nice selection of Washington wines including Stella Maris, Woodword Canyon, Seven Hills, Spring Valley Uriah, and Fourteen Hands Cabernet. Oregon was represented by St Innocent, Panther Creek, Erath, and Elk Cove.