Red Wine

2005 Diggers Bluff Stray Dog From: Barossa Valley, Australia Price: $15 Serve with: Barbecue, grilled steak This lively blend of the Rhone grapes syrah (shiraz), grenache and mourvedre (mataro) is a red wine with an Aussie swagger and rustic character. This full-bodied, well-rounded wine is packed with blackberry, leather, smoked-meat, chocolate and wild-berry flavors. It's perfect for drinking right now, and its freedom from cork taint is assured by a modern screw cap.

High on love but low on cash? Swooning couples shouldn't have to shell out hundreds of dollars on Valentine's Day. And with the recession in full swing, who can afford to splurge on champagne and chocolate, anyway? There is a world of options available, from dancing to Frank Sinatra's hits in front of a live orchestra to sipping red wine over spaghetti at a Hampden pasta joint. Leave the roses on the shelf, and try one of these five Valentine's Day dates instead. Each one has its own theme, multiple stops and an alternative option, in case something falls through or an event sells out. It's always good to have a backup plan, after all. But the best part is: Every date on this list costs less than $50. If you want to celebrate Valentine's Day on a tight budget, here's how to do it. Dance the night away The Plan: : In the beginning of the year, a well-known dance promoter started renting out the building that used to house Gardel's Supper Club (29 S. Front St.)

101 Sangrias and Drinks By Kim Haassarud Wiley / 2008 / $16.95 Sangria - punch made with inexpensive wine mixed with liquor and fruit such as mangoes, peaches, pineapple or raspberries - invites the kind of improvisation provided by Kim Haassarud, who heads a consulting firm that creates signature beverages. The book offers many sangria options, with regional variations and flavors. Although sangrias should be made at least 24 hours in advance so the flavors can blend, Haasarud offers some shortcuts - mashing the fruit slightly or sauteing it in simple syrup over low heat to soften its skin.

Is there nothing red wine can't cure? Apparently hoping to trump previous studies that have demonstrated its health benefits, from increasing endurance to lowering obesity, scientists have found that taking doses of resveratrol, a compound found in red wine, can make one live longer. Well, that may be overstating things a bit. Actually, they found that it does wonders for the longevity of mice, but that's a minor detail. For the serious oenophile, this is still news worth toasting. Alas, there may be an even bigger catch than the rodent clause: The study and similarly positive ones before it are based on taking quite a large quantity of resveratrol.

Take too much fun from the fun bank at Thanksgiving? With more holiday revelry coming up, we have three little words: alcohol-free wine. The notion of tinkering with perfectly good vino makes true wine lovers blanch, but alcohol-free wine has some advantages over its boozy cousin, including far fewer calories: about 15 to 25 calories for a 4-ounce glass, compared with about 90 for a glass of chardonnay or cabernet sauvignon. Alcohol-free wine also should confer some of the health benefits one gets from moderate regular-wine consumption, says Fergus Clydesdale, head of the department of food science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Once you have answered the sticky Thanksgiving questions - what type of turkey stuffing and what set of relatives you are going to spend the day with - the next issue to solve is, what are you going to be sipping? Pairing your bottle with your bird is more work than it used to be. Now that craft beers and spirits are pushing wine for a spot on the drink menu, the task is more interesting, as well. Until recently, the consensus of beverage gurus was that wine ruled the day. The standard safe recommendations for Thanksgiving wine were sauvignon blanc for the white, pinot noir for the red. The more daring types pointed toward riesling or gew?