Beaujolais nouveau is due
In accord with French tradition, the 2008 Beaujolais nouveau, the first wine of the recent European harvest, will be released Thursday.
And while some bottles no doubt will be opened here then, the official welcome of the wine by the Alliance Francaise de Sacramento won't be until Saturday.
"Being Saturday, more people will be available to celebrate it," says Lisa Dane of the two-day delay in the group's embrace of what customarily is a light, refreshing and easily quaffable red wine.
Dane, director of development for Alliance Française de Sacramento, a nonprofit to promote French language and culture, says the group's Saturday party will be 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Solomon Dubnick Gallery, 1050 20th St., Sacramento.
In addition to a glass of Beaujolais nouveau, attractions include appetizers, music by a roving accordionist and a silent benefit auction with such lots as one week in an 18th century townhouse in a walled medieval French village, a painting of a French landscape by Gregory Kondos and dinner with Bee sports columnist Ailene Voisin.
Tickets are $25 for members of the organization, $30 for nonmembers, $35 at the door. More information: www.afdesacramento.org or (916) 453-1723.
Fundraising dinner
Through December, ZD Wines of Rutherford (near St. Helena) will donate 50 percent of its winery retail proceeds to the UC Davis deLeuze Family Endowment Fund. This fund supports research for a nontoxic cure for lymphoma. An ongoing drive already has raised $650,000 of the $1 million endowment goal.
Before his death in 2007, Norman deLeuze, founding partner of ZD Wines, collaborated with Dr. Joseph Tuscano, an oncologist at the UC Davis Cancer Center, to raise awareness of the disease.
Among the events: a "Dinner of Giving" party at 6 p.m. Dec. 8, at Seasons Restaurant, 102 F St., Davis. $80 per person. Call (530) 750-1801 for reservations.