Happy weekend to you, readers. This week's food pages had a few items worth noting, some of which we wrote down in our "wireless device" to reference when we get to the wine store this afternoon.

Darn that L.A. Times. Every time they turn us on to a new wine, and even a new grape, we turn around and they've got us running around hunting for the next one. This time it's an article on arneis, an ancient grape from the Piedmont region of Italy that was almost extinct at one point. It survived, and it produces "crisp" and "tremendously food-friendly" wines you could pair with simple, salty foods like an antipasto or a dish of shellfish pasta.

The Dallas Morning News includes a brief about a "dashing red" blend made in Walla Walla, Wash., in the Columbia Valley: It's $19 or $20 a bottle, but its flavors sound sort of irresistible (and Hot Plates checked around; lots of people who write about Three-Legged Red, named for the winery owner's dog, mention the "blueberry" note) if you're looking for something full of jammy flavor.

When Hot Plates goes wine shopping, we tend to be in one of two modes: extravagant and spontaneous, or frugal and conservative. This week's Washington Post offers a pleasant antidote to boredom when you find yourself in mode no. 2 with its list of "Affordable Weeknight Wonders" -- a bunch of bottles you won't feel bad opening with leftover roast chicken on a Tuesday evening. They are all under $15, and three -- a Riesling and two sparkling wines -- are $9 or $10.

And from The New York Times, we get a sort of explainer on wine from Chile, a country known to produce excellent wines at a good value. The article focuses on carmenere, a grape the writer is very impressed with: "Just as Argentina has achieved a reputation with a signature grape, malbec, it may well be that Chile’s further emergence may depend on carmenère, which is produced virtually nowhere else in the world." Interestingly, the tasting panel likes a $9 bottle best, and a $70 bottle second-best.

Because Hot Plates loves to leave you, if possible, with a smile, we offer this non-wine item from the L.A. Times about the Great American Beer Festival, which took place last weekend and attracted around 46,000 fans. Clearly many in attendance are very serious about their brew, but, "any beer event is bound to have an element of hilarity." Pretzel necklaces, yelling, "horse manure" flavors and sour beer that "frightens the taste buds." We love a good laugh, but tonight, we might just open a not-so-affordable Friday night red.