I hope I don't disappoint too many when I admit I love beaujolais nouveau.

This Thursday, as according to French law and tradition - always on the third Thursday of November - the beaujolais nouveau will be released. It is probably the most marketed event in the wine world, with parties, tastings and other special events all focused on an unpretentious wine that may cost as little as $10 a bottle.

In case you've missed the hubbub, beaujolais nouveau is "new" wine, made from the juice of gamay grapes harvested in the granite hills of Beaujolais at the southern tip of Burgundy. The grapes are crushed only seven to nine weeks before the wine's ceremonious release.

CELEBRATORY EVENTS

Many wine shops will offer beaujolais tastings later this week. Here are some of the events scheduled to celebrate the wine's release. • Beaujolais Nouveau French Dinner, 7-10 p.m., Thursday hosted by Le Cezanne Pastry Shop at Wyoming Civic Center. $34.50. Reservations (by Tuesday): 821-7600 or 948-9399. • Beaujolais Nouveau Celebration on Mount Adams. Outdoor festivities begin at 7 p.m. Friday at Rookwood Pottery Circle. Mount Adams bars and restaurants will offer wine specials Friday night. • Jean-Robert at Pigall's, downtown, will feature a three-course beaujolais nouveau menu, including two glasses of wine, for $65, Thursday and Friday. Reservations: 721-1345.

Wearing a Welch's shade of purple, beaujolais nouveau packs in-your-face berry-cherry flavors and sometimes teases the tongue with a spritz of tiny bubbles. But as delightful as that sounds, some disdainfully dismiss this wine as "Kool-Aid."

This is why wine snobs don't approve of nouveau - it's too unassuming and inexpensive. But I can't help but reveal my affections - a sip, even a fruity whiff of the wine evokes wonderful memories.

It was nearly 20 years ago that I became seriously interested in food and wine, and beaujolais nouveau played a pivotal role. I decided to throw a wine party that fall. I can't remember the menu, but I'm certain many of the appetizers came from the Silver Palate Cookbook (Workman; $15.95), my favorite of the '80s.

In divergence from most of my previous parties of the decade, I served no light beer in silver cans - only beaujolais nouveau, the wine with the pretty floral labels (no one does labels like Beaujolais maestro Georges Duboeuf). Weeks in advance, I ordered a case of nouveau. It was the first time I bought wine, certainly French wine, in such quantity.

A dozen or more guests came to eat and drink that November night. They left glasses to wash, a few purple stains on the carpet and lavish praise for my party.

Then and there, I was hooked on cooking and entertaining. I'm sure others had similar experiences, and moved on to love and appreciate more complex food and wine.

Which is fine. Approachable, very affordable beaujolais nouveau is a great transition to red wine for those only familiar with white zinfandel - even light beer in silver cans. But often those who hone their palates and knowledge of finer wine can't stop there. They feel the need to put down beaujolais nouveau and those who drink it.

This is a distinct American tendency, I believe. It is also true to an extent of those who claim to be devoted to the arts - patrons of symphony orchestras, for instance, who smugly ridicule the less enlightened for applauding at the "wrong time" during a performance.

In America, it often seems we can't just enjoy a good thing - beautiful music or delicious wine.

We must belong to an exclusive "club" with rules on what is acceptable and what is not.

Centuries of experience, though, have helped the French understand wine is for drinking, not posturing. For them, the release of nouveau in November is another excuse to celebrate with friends.

So later this week, buy a bottle - at the grocery if you must. Sip it with cheese. Drink it with mac n' cheese. Quaff it with a burger. Pour it with Thanksgiving turkey.

Wine should be pleasurable. And nothing better embodies that notion than beaujolais nouveau, the anti-snob wine.

E-mail cmartin@enquirer.com

Gougeres are a popular appetizer served with red wine in France. To continue our anti-snob theme, call them "cheese puffs."

Gougeres
1 cup milk
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
5 eggs
11/2 cups grated Parmesan, or half Parmesan and half Gruyere, plus an extra 1/2 cup grated Parmesan for topping puffs

Combine milk, butter and salt in saucepan and bring to boil. Remove pan from heat and add flour all at once. Whisk vigorously for a minute, then return pan to medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the batter has thickened and is pulling away from the sides and bottom of pan, 5 minutes or less.

Remove pan from heat and stir in 4 eggs, one at a time, making certain each egg is incorporated before adding the next. Finally, stir in the 11/2 cups grated cheese.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter a baking sheet. Drop batter by tablespoons onto baking sheet, spacing puffs at least 1 inch apart.

Beat remaining egg in bowl. Brush tops of puffs with beaten egg and sprinkle with additional 1/2 cup grated Parmesan.

Set baking sheet on center oven rack, reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 15 to 20 minutes, until gougeres are puffed and well-browned. Makes 20 puffs.

- The Silver Palate Cookbook