What do you do when you are a stranger in a strange land (not that Utah is that strange, mind you) and want to meet people with similar interests? Why, host a wine dinner, of course. On a recent family vacation to Park City, I asked friends of ours who live there to invite a group of their friends over for dinner one night for the purpose of meeting new people — by sharing and drinking wine. In the interest of full disclosure, I made sure that the guests knew that I was a wine columnist who wanted to write an article about the social power of wine.

I suggested a wine theme (Rhone varietals) and set a menu (Cassoulet) for the evening. Each couple was asked to bring a bottle of wine and a dish to share. It amazed that seven complete strangers (to me) jumped at the chance to share an evening over wine.