On Wednesday night, I met my friend Lindsay at the farmers market in my neighborhood. The plan was to shop for the makings of a yummy summer dinner and sample the wine from this awesome organization she works for—Agent For Change Wines .

Agent for Change Wines (A4C) is a portfolio of wines produced to create awareness and raise funds for worthy causes. By drinking charitably, A4C donates a substantial portion of the proceeds to non-profit organizations. Since September 2008, A4C has released three awesome wines from the Central Coast of California: a Sauvignon Blanc, a Zinfandel, and a Merlot-Cabernet Sauvignon blend.

The best part of drinking this tasty (and affordable—bottles run from $12-$15) wine is that fifty percent of their profits are donated to community-based organizations that deliver health care to uninsured and under-insured workers in the wine industry.

But I’m not just bragging on my friend’s cool organization to help her out. Agent for Change wants to hook up BrokeAss Gourmet readers too. Shop for Agent for Change wines at Big Hammer Wines and use the code 204bag to save 20%. But hurry, because the code will be good until Monday, September 14, 2009.

For more information on Agent for Change Wines, check out their Twitter and blog

Drinking wine feels good in and of itself—why not also feel good about where the money you spend on it goes?

One of the surest, if simplest, signs of wealth may be one’s capacity to casually reach out a hand, flip a spigot, and have oneself a refreshing draft of wine at each pass through the kitchen. The notion stirs up the sweetest sentiments of bucolic living, where products of the Earth lie every which way on the homestead; a barrel of fresh ale here, a wheel of cheese there, plums and cherries in a basket, fresh mushrooms harvested from the glen across the meadow, and, of course, limitless quantities of rustic wine.

If such a scenario signifies immeasurable wealth, then most of us are dirt poor. We have our wine when we can get it, almost always in bottles, and once that seal is broken it’s all downhill for the wine. It must be downed promptly lest oxidation begins, spoiling all the delicate aromas and nuances of flavor and turning the wine rank within several days – if it should ever actually last that long, but that’s another story.

But wine in a box keeps for weeks after the first pour. True: The clunky cumbersome cubes preclude the dramatic show of uncorking a bottle before thirsty guests, but once lodged in its place of residence, the ease and grace with which one may fill a glass trumps almost all that may be said for wine bottles. Panels of experts, too, have many times been tested blindly, tasting bottled wine against the same wine from a box; these nerds can’t tell the difference, so likely you can’t. The packaging streamlines costs, as well, and the price of most boxed wines comes out to be a per-bottle bargain. Speaking of bottles, boxed wines generally come in a three-liter size, equating four bottles. On that note, there is no need to commit to drinking the full container when all you want is a sip, and if you have several boxes side by side, a wine tasting session is just an arm’s length away. We recently did just that – tasted three bargain boxed wines at a sitting. Our results:

• Herding Cats Merlot-Pinotage, $15: This wine provides a big wash of mulberries, followed by the tannic pull at the mouth of cranberry juice. It’s a bit acidic upfront, but balanced by a jammy body. Sniff it long and hard and you’ll find a deep smokiness. I don’t eat beef and I don’t dig on swine, so I deem this wine a good match for Agaricus augustus or Boletus edulis.

• Herding Cats Chenin Blanc-Chardonnay, $15: You’ll find grapefruit in the foreground of this crisp golden wine. Creamy vanilla, peach and guava lurk on lower levels, as does a unique mead or honey taste. Listen closely. You’ll find it. The wine is very crisp, and I would prefer a little more oak and vanilla, but the price is right. Pair this one to some Lepiota rachodes sautéed in olive oil and rosemary.

• Black Box 2007 Central Coast Shiraz, $24.99: This brand has the coolest name in the boxed wine sub-industry. It looks pretty awesome, too, shiny and confident as Darth Vader. The aroma is a wafting wall of savory things. Think of smoked ham, Italian seasoning, and that smoky earthy flavor of porcini browning in a pan. In the mouth it, this Shiraz is round, full, and satisfying, dominated by big-bodied fruit and bacon and softened by vanilla and rosemary. A fine and complex wine at just $6.25 per bottle.

Stash any of these on your dresser, above the fridge, by the stove, next to your favorite reading chair – anyplace where you suspect it may come in handy in the next 15 minutes. And while you’re at it, you might just keep multiple boxes around the homestead while you’re at it: in the barn, in the cellar, up high, down low, left, right, and center. Have yourself a draft anytime you please. If the world is an oyster, you’ve found its pearls. Share the wealth with your guests. It feels like a million bucks, especially for a BrokeAss bum.

Zinfandel is among the most descript of red wine varieties, with its unmistakable bite of pepper, raspberry, vinegar, and other things sweet and tart. Its name, too, is a winner. After all, everybody likes a good letter Z to play with, and puns know no paradise like the Zinfandel business. Just listen: Artezin, XYZin, Seven Deadly Zins, Zinsvalley, Z-52, Poizin, ReZerve, Zig Zag Zin, Zip Zin 95240 (that’s Lodi), Zynthesis, Temptation Zin, Sin Zin, Zinetta, Za Za Zin, CIGARZIN, Zinzilla, Fro-Zin, Zen Zin, Zinful Delight Zin Port, and The Inzinerator.

Secondly, Zinfandel’s brief history is an endearing one. It came from Croatia, born in the Dark Age jungles of oaks, conifers and vines, and turned up mysteriously in the early 1800s in California, where it thrived in the hot, dry climate. The grape was planted widely in the delta region and the Gold Country in the mid-1800s and would become a favorite of the Miner 49ers, the star of the largest single-variety tasting in the state (the ZAP Festival), and the official state grape of California in 2006.

But then we get to the price tag, and Zinfandel tends to cost substantially more than other red wines. One reason is that the grapes on a given vine tend to ripen at different times, requiring vineyard staff to inspect the vines individually and selectively harvest the fruit. The grapes also grow quite fat, which can lead to mold growth within the bunch if any moisture creeps in. Thus, we see many $40 bottles on the shelves and $9 glasses on menus. Screw that.

It takes some digging to locate cheap ones (white Zin doesn’t count), and here are a few winning specimens of the category:

6) R &B Cellars Lodi Swingsville Zin, $11. Yikes, right? But the wine is a fantastic value and perfect for that once-in-a-while splurge. The wine hits you with its distinct cherry and red licorice flavors. Though it lacks the pronounced bite of many Zins, the basic elements – pepper and tartness – are there, with prominent flavors and aromas of pomegranate and mint.

5) Ravenswood Vintner’s Blend Sonoma Zinfandel, $9.99. Ravenswood owner and winemaker Joel Peterson, famed for his cowboy hat and penchant for looking rugged even with delicate stemware in hand, makes a characteristically peppery Zinfandel with his Vintner’s Blend at a price worth paying. The wine is acidic yet smooth, with all that zesty zing more common to high-priced Zins.

4) Mutt Lynch Sonoma County Portrait of a Mutt Zinfandel, $9.99. This is a fruity and particularly heavy Zinfandel, with cherries, mulberries and pomegranate thick on the nose. A filling mouthful of fruit, fudge and cigar smoke follows, all well-balanced and dangerously drinkable – and with the family’s squat little dog portrayed cutely on the front.

3) Smoking Loon California Old Vine Zinfandel: $8.99. One of the smoother Zins, this wine carries strong elements of burnt and toasted things, like meat and wood. The deep smell carries traces of cranberry, strawberry and peppery spices. It’s soft and mellow in the mouth, heavy on cherry and charcoal, with a suggestion of dried figs, and a wonderful smoked bacon character.

2) Forestville California Zinfandel, $5.99. This one is about as cheap as Zinfandels get, and it isn’t too bad. It smells of red fruits – don’t they all? – and the taste is best-described as black: black cherries, blackberries, and black licorice. You may even detect such subtleties as candle wax and prickly pear – wonderful notes in a wine so geographically blended as this. The name brand’s label won’t impress anyone, so keep this one far back in your cupboard, and when the hour arrives and your guests are wobbly-kneed on the good (well, better) stuff, slip this potion in their goblets. They won’t complain.

1) Crane Lake California Zinfandel, $4.99. This one is as cheap as Zinfandels get and yet quite interesting. Okay: It’s a bit pungent on the nose, but you might get a whiff of chicory and blueberries. Fascinating stuff. The flavor packs a forceful punch of strawberries and raspberry jam while the astringent tannins cloy at the mouth – but that’s okay by me. I’m personally just impressed that Crane Lake produces a red Zin at this price, and for me just tossing the juice of this noble grape about my mouth is quite enough to send me to bed happy.

Adam’s recent comments on wine from Trader Joes certainly gets you ingestible bottles for under $10 but is there any romance there? I don’t think so! For that think further afield, let your mind wander to places you want to visit, grab an Atlas (ok, just google “world map”) and think fun, wine and sun. Where did that take you? Hawaii? Never mind, let me make a suggestion Iberia!

OK, where? You know, the Iberian peninsula down below France. Yeah, Spain and Portugal – that’s what I said. These two countries are the source of some of the best wine values in the world right now. Although both countries have achieved greater renown on the world wine scene over the past decade, they still provide great wines that don’t command big prices. You should be able to find many wines from the region in a local wine shop, Whole Foods or, I admit, even Trader Joes.

On the affordable wine front you can find excellent stuff from the Douro region of Portugal (where Port comes from) such as Charamba or Altano which should be $6-9 wherever you find them. They’re great potluck wines that can come out with almost anything, so stick one in the cupboard for whenever you need it.

If you’re preparing Gabi’s Meyer Lemon Pad Thai search out a Vinho Verde, also from Portugal. This “green wine” will have a tiny bit of bubbles to go along with a fresh crisp taste and often a hint of sweetness that will work superbly to lubricate things along as you cook for your date and then sit down to the meal. A relatively widely distributed Vinho Verde is Broadbent which you’ll almost always find for $10 or less ($7 at The Wine Mine) and there are many others in that price range.

Over in Spain you can find any number of interesting wines that you can actually think about if you feel like it (unlike Cycles Gladiator). Look for a wine from the Bierzo region made from Mencia. In the lower price range this grape produces red wines that are not too heavy, somewhat fruity with a good acidity that makes them good food pairers. One example is Cuatro Pasos which I’ve seen at Whole Foods for $12 but can be found for less.

You’ll be able to find many other examples of bargains that taste great and have a sense of place to them – look for a Monastrel from Jumilla, Garnacha from the Navarra region, a Tempranillo blend from Rioja, you get the picture. Bring out that map again and plan your next journey when you aren’t so broke.

Oh and before you visit a a wine shop or supermarket brush up on your history to make sure you know the approximate dates of the Roman, Germanic and Muslim/Moor periods of influence in Spain. I hear this is a great conversation starter with whomever catches your eye while you’re shopping. If I’m wrong you just have another tidbit of information to think about while sipping your new bargain finds from Iberia.

I don’t blog nearly enough on BG about all of the amazing wines you can grab at TJs for $10 or less, so here’s a quick-and-dirty list of 10 awesome bottles you can grab and stick in your eco-friendly Trader Joe’s wine tote ($1.95). Two of those bad boys make it pretty easy to carry a case of wine up the stairs, for sure.

Also, if there’s no Trader Joe’s in your neck of the woods, a well-stocked Whole Foods will carry about 60-70% of these as well.

The Whites:

1. Honey Moon Viognier ($5): This is possibly my favorite low-priced white these days, and it drinks as well as many $20 Viogniers, at 1/4 the price.

2. 2007 Gaetano d’Aquino Orvieto Classico ($5): A dry Italian white, perfect for a light pasta or fish supper.

3. 2003 Fuerza Malbec ($4): I can’t think of a better white at this price point, in 2009, period.

4. 2004 or 2003 Screw Kappa Napa Chardonnay ($9-10): Although the price of this Sebastiani bad boy has certainly increased a little since its release, this is still a keeper, and in the right price range.

5. Charles Shaw Blush Zin ($2): Possibly the best sangria wine I’ve found in a long time. Aerate a couple of bottles with an immersion blender (or even in your regular blender) and mix. Just get a case, and prepare for summer (slowly).

The Reds:

1. 2006 Bogle Zin (or ’07) $10 or $8: This one tastes way fancier than the price point would lead you to believe. Pair it with turkey meatballs, veggie burritos or any rich entree.

2. Red Truck Merlot ($9-10): This Sonoma all-American is just fine for a weeknight. When I still ate meat, I loved it with burgers or a Brokeass flank steak.

3. Cycles Gladiator 2005 Central Coast Merlot ($8-10): Cycles calls this one “the wine to drink while you wait for your Cabernet to age.” I’ve bided my time with worse, for sure.

4. Charles Shaw Cab ($2): Buy this one by the case, and aerate before using. A rock-solid Monday night wine, but try to avoid drinking the whole bottle yourself, as the tannins bug me after a while.