---

Wine choice can define
the party mood

---

CAN you help me select some wines for our next get-together?" is a question I am often asked. My reply inevitably is, "What are you cooking?"

Choices among even value wines offer lots of options for pairing great party foods with great wines. It is always fun to imagine the possibilities.

These, for example:

Lunch with the girls

"We are having pea salad, Chinese chicken salad and pasta salad."

Drink a well-chilled, medium-dry German riesling. Toni Jost Riesling Halbtrocken ($14) immediately comes to mind. The 2001 is wonderfully pure and riveting.

"For the main course we decided to have fish tacos with a lilikoi sauce."

Stick with a riesling, but step it up a notch. This is the perfect opportunity to try the 2003 Josef Leitz Riesling "Dragonstone" ($15), one incredible bottle of wine. It has such incredible intensity and complexity, completely refreshing and delicious. A sensational value well worth seeking out.

BBQ on the patio

Start off with a well-chilled bottle of Riggeri Prosecco ($15). This off-dry Italian sparkler is refreshing and effortlessly light-bodied, the perfect wine to whet the appetite on a summer afternoon.

Next, pop open a bottle of a delicious, dry rosˇ, like the Corbieres Gril de Gris by Fontsainte ($14). Such refreshing, fruit-driven "pink" wines work with a wide range of BBQ fare.

Now, for the meat on the grill, slightly chill a bottle of La Vis Lagrien ($17). This is a very exuberant, juicy, fruity, lip-smackin' red from northeast Italy.

Then to end the day, serve a well-chilled bottle of Elio Perrone Moscato d'Asti ($14). This slightly sweet semi-sparkler is wonderfully uplifting and the perfect way to end the meal.

On the lanai with friends

You could can start off with another prosecco, but let's try something different here. How about the Maui Winery's Rose Ranch Cuvee ($20) bubbly, produced from the carnelian grape, grown on Maui. Pink, crisp, yet feminine and elegant, with lively fruit and loads of bubbles, this is a great way to start the night.

For the first course of, say, grilled marinated shrimp (with a last minute drop of freshly squeezed lemon juice), consider the 2001 Bardellini Pigato ($15), one of the finest white wines from Italy's Ligurian Coast. Its light body and lemon-edge crispness are tailor made for virtually any seafood dish.

For a dish of roasted vegetable and pasta (perhaps with an arugula pesto), savor a slightly chilled bottle of 2002 Vetrice Chianti ($11). This highly perfumed, delicately rustic, Italian red is one of today's great values.

To end the meal, try Elio Perrone's other semi-sparkler, Bigaro ($14), a very exotic, fruit-driven blend of brachetto and moscato.

See how much fun you can have?

---

---