Saturday I had dinner with some friends--a couple of romance writers and their husbands. Sort of a typical, casual dinner party, and not a wine connoisseur in the bunch. It was a gorgeous night--really, the weather is pretty close to perfect this time of year--so we ate out on the screened lanai. And we had wine.

It was basic, nothing sophisticated, but it fit the evening and the dinner beautifully. And we didn't even try very hard. Just opened a couple of bottles that people liked the looks of, and didn't even consider whether they went with the food. In fact, if I'd asked one of our wine guys in advance whether they'd pair these wines up with dinner, I'd have probably been told to go away and find someone else to talk to. Seriously.

We had a roast, and Yorkshire pudding, and roasted veggies and homemade bread, and drank semi-dry rose and Chardonnay, depending on personal preference (I, for example, have to be talked into anything semi-dry or sweeter; my friend wouldn't drink if Chard or Cab was the only thing on the table.). Oddly enough, it worked. Maybe because the Chard was sort of neutral--not real oaky. I'm afraid to ask if I should have been able to do that without hating either the wine or the food.

But it worked, and maybe that's why Shayne and some of our other wine guys keep saying that the only thing that matters in wine is that it works for you.

How about you? Ever drink a wine that absolutely positively didn't go with what you were eating...except it did?