Wine Food Pairing - Chili ? Call the Dr. !

Wine food pairing wants to know ... what wine do YOU pair with chili?

In Florida, when a winter's day drops into the 60's, we get craving something to ward off those winter chills ..... what better than a big pot of homemade chili?

I thawed out a pound of ground chuck and pondered .... what about my quick 3 bean chili?

First off, I "sweated down" a large onion and a green pepper in my big cooking pot then tossed in the "chuck" to brown along with some cumin, chili powder, S & P. To this I added the rest of my ingredients ... a can of diced tomatoes and 1 can each of light red kidney, pinto and black beans then my not so secret, secret ingredient, a small jar of mild Pace Picante sauce and a teaspoon of sugar! A quick stir and then let simmer for a couple of hours.

Crystal hot sauce ... we like our chili with a sneak up heat that purges the system, but for company I'll just keep it mild and let them add as much or little as they can handle at the table ... Let me say this about the heat factor of my chili ... if this is for BigAl and myself only, I finely dice some jalapenos and shake in some Louisiana ... lol!

Now, to get back to my question, what wine to pair with this spicy treat ... well, BigAl chose to go with a beer ... Dutch Windmill, imported from Holland. I wanted to drink wine and decided to go with a gift that we received at Christmas .... Dr. Willkomm's Blue River Riesling. This tasty white wine from the Mosel region of Germany was the perfect combo to temper the spicy heat of my chili! Not to mention that it comes in a beautiful bottle that I want to display in the kitchen.

So for all those chili and beer drinkers out there ... I say " next time you have chili, call the Dr.!"

Wine food pairing .... it's all about the wine and food. CHEERS!