Pa. sets sites for Beaujolais tastings Nov. 20

One of my favorite times of the wine calendar, the middle of November when the first wine of the new season is released, is celebrated in a number of ways across the region. Beaujolais Nouveau Day officially comes around the third Thursday in November and it's a chance to see and taste what was ust on the vine five or six weeks ago.

Several wineries and trails, such as the Bucks County Wine Trail, celebrate a Nouveau Release, just in time for the holiodays. Personally, there's nothing that adds as much to the Thanksgiving table than a few bottles of Beaujolais . . . oh, except maybe for that apple pie that follows two hours later.

The folks who run the state stores in Pennsylvania have also gotten on board, and who can blame them. Among the first of the French Boujolias tastings, free to the public, will occur on Nov. 20 in three locations:

* in Harrisburg, at the Harrisburg Hilton, One North Second St., from 5 to 7 p.m.

* in Philly, at the Sofitel Philadelphia, 107 S. 17th St., from 5 to 7 p.m.

* and in Pittsburgh, at the Renaissance Hotel, 107 Sixth St., from 5 to 7 p.m.