1-2-3-4 Chili and Four Vines Zin

I guess you are a fairly serious wine drinker when instead of cracking open a beer to go with your chili (or drinking a glass of milk), you contemplate what wine would pair best with it. OK, so I like wine with my food--and so there is an entry in my cookbook recipe/wine pairing project for the chili I made the other night.

Christmas was good to our kitchen. We got a new crockpot, and a copy of Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufman to go with it. As a slow cooker novice, I figured chili would be a good place to start. I made the 1-2-3-4 Chili with Beef & Beans, which I'd describe as a moderately spiced chili. It relies on a combination of green chilies, regular chili powder and ancho chili powder for its flavor. And I had some white wine on hand that wasn't good for anything but cooking, so I used that instead of the beer called for by the recipe.

Zinfandel is a natural for chili. I paired this with the 2007 Four Vines Old Vine Cuvee ($12), a natural choice for me as Four Vines is one of my go-to zins. This one is fruitier than spicy, with a big berry taste. Spice does come in a bit on the finish. It definitely has the heft to stand up to the chili, and is a pretty good match. If you want to repeat this experiment though, something with a bit more spice would be optimal. Coppola's Directors Cut zin is one that comes to mind. But most importantly, if you like wine with your food, don't shy away from pairing it with chili!