Answer for wine!'s wine dilemma.

I usually consider three basic questions when matching food and wine. First is; what is the core ethnicty of the dish, second is; what is the main ingredient/strongest flavor in the dish, and the third is; where in the order of the meal will the dish appear? The answers in your case are 1) I'd say English (apple/apricot, walnuts and blue cheese). 2) Blue cheese/fruit sweet and hot pepper. 3) Hors d'oeuvre or appetizer. Those answers would lead me to these choices, any one of which will fit all three criteria. 1) An English hard apple cider, not a wine but really good and very under appreciated in this country. 2) An off-dry (slightly sweet) Riesling, always a crowd pleaser. 3) An extra-dry (also slightly sweet) sparkling wine like a Prosecco, Spanish Cava or Washington state sparkler and who doesn't like a sparkling wine this time of year! A fourth question is the final deciding factor and it is totally up to you (it's your party after all) and that is; What do I feel like drinking tonight? Hope that helps you and thank you for the very kind compliment (though I don't know if I'd go as far as genius!).