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What's refreshing, delicious and spicy all over?

A Partida margarita - shaken, not blended, at the third annual A Taste of Tamales by the Bay Margaritas Rock! - the margarita gladiator challenge.

Watch some of the finest margarita gladiators, aficionados and mixologist - maybe even a lawyer or two - compete for the title of Top Rock in one of two categories -- Classic Margarita and Tequila Cocktail.

A Taste of Tamales by the Bay is excited to have Partida Tequila as product sponsor of this year's Margaritas Rock!

Partida Tequila ambassadors will be on hand to give a presentation, aTequila 101, on the finer points of tequila, its process and specifically what sets Partida apart from all other tequilas - this gift from the gods:

Long ago, a woman searching for food came upon a bird fluttering around a sacred plant. She watched as it repeatedly tried to launch itself onto a branch, only to miss and tumble to the ground. Noticing a small hole the bird had made near the center of the plant, she cut into it - and was rewarded with a squirt of delicious golden liquid.

She gathered some in her drinking gourd to take back to her village. Miraculously, it lifted everyone's spirits and eased the pains of their labor. Word spread quickly. There could be no doubt: It was a "gift of the gods."

The plant still remains. Only now, it has a name: The Blue Agave.

It still yields a gift from the gods, and it, too, has a name: Partida Tequila.

Come watch, cheer and taste - and discover why we're so excited to be sharing Partida with you.

!Buen Provecho!

Tamales often present, even for the more savvy among us, an interesting dilemma - interesting, unless you're the one caught in its grasp.

With so much happening in a tamal - flavors, spices, heat, not to mention texture - what do you use as your guiding priniciple to select the best wine? The heat? The spice?

Complicating this delicious dilemma is the tamale filling. What if it's pork? Which way do you lean if it's a cheese and spinach filling? What about duck with chocolate based sauce? It's easy to see why someone might pass on wine, opting for something less frenetic.

No one should have to ever face this problem alone, and unarmed. On Sunday, April 26, 2009, Reynoso Vineyards will be on hand at A Taste of Tamales by the Bay, at Fort Mason, San Francisco, to give you the confidence needed to pair the right wine with any tamal, making your anxiety a thing of the past.

Family-owned Reynoso Vineyards is a 550 acre estate located in the Alexander Valley. The estates was originally purchased in 1994, and since that time grapes have been sold to several of Sonoma's finest wine producers; The Reynoso family is currently farming 155 acres of Caberneet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Zinfandel, Petit Sirah, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier. Only a small percentage of the finest grapes on the estate are used for Reynoso Vineyard wines.

In other words, this is good stuff.

Proprietors Joe and Elena Reynoso are committed to producing small lots of estate-grown Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc. Their goal is to craft fruit-driven wines that display distinctive varietal character and intensity without sacrificing elegance and their own element of terroir.

Elena and Joe are earnest about producing great wines from their vineyards, and above all, wines that family and friends can enjoy for years to come.

!Buen Provecho!