TASTE OF HOPE, PART 1: FRUIT FORWARD, WITH NOTES OF WEASEL

Thursday night's City of Hope A Taste of Hope soiree in NYC featured a bevy of industry folk gathered to benefit a great cause while schmoozing and posing. Event chair and iHeart EVP Global Music Marketing Alissa Pollack made sure there was enough primo vino flowing to get everybody hammered, in a very highbrow sort of way.

The event raised funds for City of Hope's disease-fighting mission, with a portion of proceeds going to the the Jason Pollack Memorial Fund at Musicians on Call, which supports music programming for City of Hope patients and their families. For still more pics of industry grapevine, go here.

WLTW's Helen Little, iHeart's Tom Poleman and Epic's Dennis Reese, L.A. Reid and Sylvia Rhone found the Pinot Gris bewitchingly insouciant. Later, they giggled a lot.

Pollack, Columbia's Lee Leipsner, Entercom's Pat Paxton and Sue Paxton had words of high praise for the unoaked Chardonnay, though those words were a little slurred.

Def Jam's Steve Bartels and Roc Nation Sports' Sean Pecas pronounced the Margaux to be both exceptionally dope and fully rad.

Pollack, Red Light's Ed Green, DC101's James Howard and Columbia's Brady Bedard savored a Paso Robles Zinfandel with distinct notes of "Hey Buddy" and "smash."

Crush Music's Dan Kruchkow, WBMX's Steve Salhany, Pollack, WMJX's Morgan Prue and Crush's Erik Olesen found that the Chateauneuf du Pape revealed new depths on the fifth bottle.

Big Machine Label Group's John Zarling told Pollack and iHeart's Kathleen Strouse that the Cab Franc's robust, smoky finish and balanced tannins made the room all spinny.