Wine: Novella Zinfandel (Trader Joe's - $6.99)

I love red zins. I especially love red zins that taste much more expensive than they are. This wine is cheap enough to crack open at home for that one or two glass evening in front of your fave TV show (with or without food). It also tastes expensive enough to take to a party without breaking the bank - and bonus, you won't be embarrassed. Please, please -- never, never show up to a party toting Two Buck Chuck. Ever. Please. Thank you.

If you're like me and can't be bothered with all of the vacu-save-wine-pump-gadgetry out there, then you will be perfectly satisfied corking the bottle, leaving it on the counter, and having a glass the following day. If you need to throw out a glass or two never fear - at $6.99 a bottle it is not the end of the world.

This Paso Robles wine is medium bodied, very jammy, with lots of cooked cherry and maybe a bit of licorice. My untrained palate thinks it detects a teensy bit of vanilla on the finish, which was confirmed when I ran a few searches. Yay! Maybe one day I will actually become confident in my tasting abilities. Novella has some other wines at TJ's as well, though I haven't yet tried them. I'll just wait til they run out of the zin before I venture out.