You know how sometimes you just nail it? Here are a few of the best combos I've run into:

1) Medium-priced ($18) Dolcetto d'Alba with chicken cacciatore. [Use some bargain dry, low tannic red in the sauce.]

2) Pricey dry Alsatian Gewurztraminer with a traditional Thanksgiving dinner (chestnut stuffing). The lush fruit and flower aromas make it compatible with the sweet food, while the spicy taste is a wonderful counterpoint--like cinnamon and sugar, and the dry finish cuts through the rich food and refreshes. A hard to find wine (after all what wine shop wants to get stuck with a couple of cases of $30+ wine), but worth it. Hey, it's a holiday!

3) $10 marsanne with take-out Thai Massaman (coconut milk) curry. An alternative is imported peach nectar mixed with some lime-flavored seltzer.

4) Inexpensive Barbera d'Asti with pizza. It has just the right levels of acidity/sweetness to go with the sauce, and a little herbiness that brings out the oregano/basil flavors. Your plain pizza never tasted so good.

5) Asti spumante (yes, wine snobs, there is a reason to drink it) with French toast for a holiday weekend brunch. Delightful! Just don't serve it instead of champagne with the New Year's Eve caviar.

Anybody else get lucky , with wine, I mean, lately? Tell us ALL about it, won't ya?

[This message was edited by gourmet on Mar 01, 2004 at 05:52 PM.]