Crushed At The Crush pARTy

Did you try to crash the Crush or did you get crushed in the Crush. The Crush pARTy for the Tucson Art Museum was a big success. Lots of great food, good wine and lots of people. New York, Massachusetts, Nebraska - everybody was there. Plan to attend next year. Outstanding hors d'oeuvres were provided by some of the best restaurants in Tucson - great prawns from Vivace, excellent pate from Elle, escargots in miniature pastry cups from Bistro Phillip, great fruit and chocolate from Barrio and so much more. Wines were all provided by Alliance Beverage and they must have put out their entire book - lots of old standbys such as Robert Mondavi, Rodney Strong, Rancho Zabaco, Louis Martini, etc,. The Sonoma Cutrer Chard was good but not as good as past vintages. The Caymus was delicious, the Duckhorn Merlot ordinary, the Robert Craig Affinity fabulous. The Ruffino Pinot Grigio was both lively and full bodied, the Glen Carlou Cab was the best South African wine I've tasted. Migration, a Pinot Noir by Duckhorn was topnotch competing with the best Pinots from France and Oregon. Emiliana, a blend from the Chilean winery, Coyam was delicious, but it is a little pricey. The Robert Hall winery from Paso Robles had several excellent wines, especially the Rhones De Robles a great blend of Rhone varietals (more about them next month when I will report direct from the winery). The highlight for me was meeting the handsome Oscar Renteria and his beautiful wife. Oscar was the featured winemaker and his wines were outstandingly good. The story of the Renteria family is the ultimate migrant success story which I will relate in a future post. My favorite Renteria wines were the Pinot Noir Carneros, Knittle Ranch and the Cabernet Sauvignon SLD. Next year escape the cold gray north and come to Tucson for great wine, food, and SUN. BTW, best winery name? "Naughty!" Best wine name? "Freakout" from Luna.