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Q: Does wine go with chili?

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Salil

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Q: Does wine go with chili?

by Salil » Sun Oct 14, 2012 10:03 am

A: When you're drinking these... who cares? :mrgreen:

Dinner at Schloss Bueker last night, with his homemade chili, cornbread and roast turnips. A lovely, hearty meal and fine company augmented by a couple of lovely reds.

We started with leftovers of a 2001 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett that David had opened the prior evening. Absolutely lovely; a core of pure, mineral-tinged citrus, apple and pear fruit that's still very youthful, and just barely accented by the start of developing savoury notes. There's wonderful cut and focus to the flavours, restrained sweetness and stunning balance, and each glass of this disappears all too quickly as this shows a remarkable sense of drinkability and refreshment that I find too rarely in modern Kabinett.

Onto the reds.

1986 Château Beychevelle
First impressions after pulling the cork are of an incredibly tannic, unyielding wine. Four hours after double decanting, this transforms into something much more accessible and fragrant; a combination of dark fruit, tobacco and leathery notes with a savoury earthiness beneath all conveyed on a frame that's surprisingly elegant and finessed for an '86. It's not a big wine - medium weight, polished and initially a little thin on the palate (though it seems to pick up depth and weight with time in the decanter), but really lovely to drink over a few hours.

2007 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph Vieilles Vignes
This still comes across very, very young, but it's nowhere near as impenetrable and unyielding as a bottle I had six months ago. Initially it's rather tight but after about an hour in the decanter it really starts to open out, developing vividly floral and peppery scents around a core of pure dark fruited flavours and faint meaty accents. It's still incredibly primary, but there's a sense of real purity and finesse to the flavours and striking persistence. Beautiful, classical Syrah.

A fun evening as always - thanks again.
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James Roscoe

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Re: Q: Does wine go with chili?

by James Roscoe » Sun Oct 14, 2012 1:03 pm

I always think Zin or Petite Sirah with Chili but who cares indeed!
Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'til he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
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David M. Bueker

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Re: Q: Does wine go with chili?

by David M. Bueker » Sun Oct 14, 2012 7:17 pm

James Roscoe wrote:I always think Zin or Petite Sirah with Chili but who cares indeed!


Good choices. I like them. Salil does not.
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Lou Kessler

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Re: Q: Does wine go with chili?

by Lou Kessler » Sun Oct 14, 2012 8:09 pm

Chili= Chateau Cerveza, without a doubt in my mind from experience. :D
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Re: Q: Does wine go with chili?

by David M. Bueker » Sun Oct 14, 2012 9:30 pm

As long as one likes beer.
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Mark Lipton

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Re: Q: Does wine go with chili?

by Mark Lipton » Sun Oct 14, 2012 10:40 pm

I'd drink Riesling with chili. Given the company, I'm surprised you didn't. :wink:

Mark Lipton
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Lou Kessler

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Re: Q: Does wine go with chili?

by Lou Kessler » Mon Oct 15, 2012 1:31 am

Make sure the riesling contains a little rs or it really will clash.
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Ben Rotter

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Re: Q: Does wine go with chili?

by Ben Rotter » Mon Oct 15, 2012 3:56 am

A: No, but if you add enough other ingredients that don't emphasise the heat (high sugar / low acid / low salt / low spice / high fat) to the food, you can get away with a reasonable combo.

Generally, I'd rather not risk destroying the flavour of wine with chilli-heat. Pairing Zin or Petite Sirah with chilli-heat strikes me as masochistic, but each to their own.
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David M. Bueker

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Re: Q: Does wine go with chili?

by David M. Bueker » Mon Oct 15, 2012 7:27 am

While my chili has plenty of flavor, it is not hot-spicy.

And Mark - we did have some Riesling. The Selbach!
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David M. Bueker

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Re: Q: Does wine go with chili?

by David M. Bueker » Mon Oct 15, 2012 8:13 am

Update on night two of the 2007 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph Vieilles Vignes:
The air has done wonders for the wine. Billowing floral notes, black fruit, tar and meat aromas pour from the glass. There's almost no point in actually drinking the wine, and in fact it's still fairly hard on the palate, but the aromatics give enough insight on the wine to give great confidence for the future. Bury bottles for 10+ years in the cellar.
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Mark Lipton

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Re: Q: Does wine go with chili?

by Mark Lipton » Mon Oct 15, 2012 9:53 am

David M. Bueker wrote:While my chili has plenty of flavor, it is not hot-spicy.

And Mark - we did have some Riesling. The Selbach!

:oops:

Mark Lipton

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