Saturday, April 26th “Taste of the Valley” 4:00p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Burris Park

Saturday, May 4th “Sisterhood of Survivors” 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Tickets $50  6045 N. Sequoia (north of Bullard, between Forkner and Van Ness) It’s a Mad Hatter party theme!

Saturday May 4th “Old Town Clovis Wine Walk“ 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tickets $30 day of the event. This is one event you won’t want to miss!

Cheers!

Either way it is a fun day to get into a little mischief. With Twitter announcing fans can only post tweets using consonants (wht??) and Richard Branson announcing a glass bottom plane (not for the faint of heart) April Fools is a day is great for a few laughs.

But, if you went a little too far with your prank, a bottle of pomegranate wine is a great way to apologize.

Cheers!

But why do we celebrate this holiday?

Well back in the 1400′s St. Patrick supposedly had a vision from God to bring Christianity to Ireland. So he did just that. He is rumored to have come up with the Celtic Cross, and used the famous shamrock to explain the Trinity to people. He is said to have died on March 17th, so that’s why we celebrate on that day.

When the Irish immigrated here to the U.S. they brought their beliefs and traditions with them.

So there you have it lads and lassies! May the luck of the Irish be with you this weekend!

Well thanks to Stacy Slinkard from About.com, we now have the answers!

The difference between Champagne and sparkling wine is all in the geography. For a sparkling wine to be considered real Champagne, it has to come from the Champagne region in France. They put the trademark on it. Other than that, there really isn’t too much difference between the two.

Champagne and sparkling wines, are usually made from chardonnay grapes, pinot noir, or pinot meunier grapes. However, we have found that pomegranates make an excellent sparkling wine as well!

As for those bubbles, they come with the fermentation process. Usually wine makers will take the still wine (wine before the bubbles) and add sugar and yeast. These two ingredients convert to carbon dioxide and alcohol. The conversion makes a ton of tiny  bubbles confined to a small bottle. It’s that pressure that makes that cork POP!

Some words of caution… Do be careful when opening that bottle of sparkling wine, you just might shoot your eye out!

Cheers!

Probably the strangest, and therefore our favorite story is how the Romans did it up. According to the History Channel, Romans celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15. Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

Now here is where it gets weird. Roman priests would sacrifice a goat for fertillity, and  a dog for purity. They would skin the goat, and take strips of the flesh and slap fields and women with it because they believed it would make them fertile.

Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city’s bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.

Aw.. true love!

In the end Lupercalia was outlawed by Christianity. Still we celebrate this day with loved ones, and hopefully pomegranate wine!

Happy Valentines Day!

Cheers!

BottleHood takes all kinds of glass wear and turns it into tumblers, juice glasses, and even jewelry! They took some of our Sweetie pomegranate wine bottles, and turned them into sweet tumblers!

So if you are looking for that perfect gift, BottleHood is the place!

Cheers!

It’s fruity, easy, and will refresh you right into summer.

The Pomegranate Spritzer

Mix the following:

2 parts sparkling pomegranate wine

1 part orange juice

1 part pure pomegranate juice

Add fresh muddled berries

And Done!

Thanks again to the Homicidal Homemaker!

Cheers!

Mr. King however, did all that he could to make those dark days brighter.

Today we just want to take a moment to remember this great man, and all he did for the equality of others.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

Awesome Pomegranates

* We use the Wonderful variety of pomegranates in our wine.

*The “Wonderful” variety of pomegranates originated in Florida and were first propagated in California in 1896.

*These pomegranates are large, deep purple-red fruit. The rind is medium thick and tough. The flesh is deep crimson in color, juicy and full of a delicious vinous flavor.

*In  California commercial pomegranate cultivation is centered in the southern San Joaquin  Valley. Wonderful Pomegranates are the leading commercial variety in California.

*Madera (where we are from) is known as the “Heart of Pomegranate Country.”

What other fruit that you know of can boast all that?

Healthy Garden Salad courtesy of allrecipes.com

5 tablespoons red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons grape seed oil

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 limes, juiced

1 teaspoon white sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 (1 pound) package frozen shelled edamame (green soybeans)

3 cups frozen corn kernels

1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered

4 green onions, thinly sliced

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

Directions:

1.In a large serving bowl, whisk together the red wine vinegar, grape seed oil, cilantro, lime juice, sugar, salt and garlic. Set aside.

2.Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the soybeans and boil for 3 minutes. Add corn to the boiling water and continue cooking for 1 more minute. Drain very well, and pour into the bowl with the dressing. Gently mix in the cherry tomatoes, green onions and black beans. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving to chill and blend the flavors.

3. Serve with a glass of Trail Blazer pomegranate wine!

Cheers to a Happy New Year!!