Nat'l Zinfandel Day--Nov 19th

YES! An official holiday for the best wine variety on the planet! This "holiday" has been going on for several years. I can't believe this is the first I've heard about it.

Why is Zinfandel so great? First or all it's red, not that pink stuff invented by Sutter Home. That's fine if you like white zin, but that is not what we are celebrating. Real Zinfandel is dark, dark red, smells like raspberries, tastes a bit spicy, and is perfect with ravioli smothered in a garlicky tomato sauce. It's also great just by itself sitting in front of the fireplace after another tough day at work. Real Zinfandel can age a few years, but doesn't have to. Real Zinfandel does not have 16% alcohol. Real Zinfandel doesn't have to cost over $40.

So throw together a pasta sauce and pop a bottle of Zin. If you really want to do it right get one from Dry Creek Valley, the home of Zin. Here's a real Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel. It's blended with Petite Sirah, it uses American and Hungarian oak, and it costs less than $20.