Wine Tasting Events as a Fund Raiser

Are you looking for new ideas for your next fundraising event?

How about a wine tasting fundraiser? There is a growing interest in wine and it's crossing all demographic lines. So how do you take advantage of these trends and add a new fund raising idea into your mix without maxing out existing sponsors, staff and volunteers?

– Host a private, casual wine tasting course in your home. Ideal for guests who are eager to learn about different wines in a fun, educational way while supporting the nonprofit organization of their host. Each host--whether that's your board members, committee members or alumni determine the cost of the event ($50-$100 a person), the guest list 10-12 people, and one of the four signature programs offered by The Conquered Grape. Our wine consultant purchases your wines, brings the glasses and prizes, acts as the facilitator, and helps you to raise $300-$1000 in just 2 hours.

– Hold a wine tasting event for 50 or more. Your guests will get much more than a few pours. The large, interactive events of The Conquered Grape customize your wine choices to help boost bidding on a coordinated wine auction or facilitate a lively evening of networking. We can also customize any program to coordinate with your wine and art auction, wine and chocolate pairing, or wine and desserts event. You can plan to earn $625-9,000 based on the number of guests and ticket prices set. Best of all, overhead is limited when you hire consultants from The Conquered Grape to manage your wine tasting event. Because we understand the need to maximize profits from your fundraiser, we are also happy to meet with your committee to offer ways to keep other expenses low.

Wine brings people together--around common tastes and common causes. Adding Conquered Grape wine tasting events into your fund development plan allows you to increase your revenue without tapping into your limited mission resources. For more information, go to theconqueredgrape.com.

Fixin’ to Celebrate Mardi Gras 2012

Your menu for Mardi Gras may include Crawfish Stew, Crawfish Pie, Crawfish Etouffee, Crawfish Fettuccine, Louisiana Stuffed Crabs, Oysters Rockerfeller, Cajun Shrimp Creole, Bayou Shrimp Fry, Stuffed Trout, Spicy Jambalaya, or Red Beans and Rice.

The wine you select should be able to balance the heat of the spices, while adding a brisk component to the seafood and shellfish dishes.

Of course, when selecting a wine for Mardi Gras celebrations, we suggest that you consider a pairing with those that can reflect some of the cultural or musical elements of the holiday. Almost from the beginning, the “gumbo” of French, Canadian, American and Caribbean cultures influenced the music of New Orleans and its Mardi Gras celebration.

Based on these criteria, we cannot think of a better time to offer an encore of those chilled bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau that we purchased in November. This wine is made from the Gamay grape, now known to be a cross of Pinot noir and the ancient white variety Gouais, and is low in tannin, fruity and food friendly. Beaujolais offers a sense of heritage, tradition, expression and cause for celebration just like Mardi Gras.

Whether you make it to the Big Easy or plan a celebration with family and friends, enjoy the flavors as you listen to Clarence’s Top 40 Mardi Gras songs. http://www.cajunradio.org/top40mardigras.html

Pass a good time!

Fab Four

It began a while ago when we were conducting "research" for the wine education course, Red Wine Bandit. You see, the object of that game is to match various red wines with the personalities of various made-up characters. Bottle after bottle would be consumed to determine if a Merlot could be described as being "personable", "generous", or "fun loving" or if those descriptors were more suited to a Zinfandel. Many empty bottles later, we finally got it right--at least for 14 different wines--which were enough to start the course.

Recently, we learned that Crushpad was starting a contest for budding wine makers to propose a new wine, we knew right away that we should incorporate our knowledge and all those bottles of research into creating a wine personality. We also wanted to put a musical spin on the wine that we would be proposing.

Long story short, this is how the idea of FAB FOUR wine was developed. Our proposed wine is an example of how time, place and circumstances can bring together four distinct talents to rock our world. It happened once before... and 50 years later, the blending of youth, charm and rebellion are altering our tastes and changing our sense of harmony and rhythm.

Four distinct grapes express the range of personalities of the FAB FOUR wine: Syrah (the leader), Grenache (the playful), Mourvedre (the mystical) and Petit Sirah (the whimsical).

FAB FOUR is more than a tribute wine. It's a magical mystery pour.

To make it to the barrel, FAB FOUR needs your "likes" on Crushpad and daily votes (until March 31).

https://www.facebook.com/crushpad?sk=app_301784786521549