What’s a pair of innocent wine-and-food writers to do?
We recently journeyed to Wines of Wildwood, a shop we like even if it is in an area only a couple of miles from where we once thought dragons stuck their heads up over the edge of the earth and scouted for dinner. We were there to sip wine and taste chili, and to discuss which wine went with which chili, or vice versa. We also were to vote on our favorite chili. And after doing all that – we discovered we were in the midst of a major conundrum, and a two-headed conundrum at that.
First, the dish that won the chili competition – even though we voted for it, too – was not what we call chili. It was tasty, and spicy, but it was based on chicken, lacked tomato. If we had to put a name on it, burgoo might have been more accurate. Still, it was imaginative and to our taste. Second, if we had decided to go to Indigo Joe’s, a few blocks away in the same plaza, where the dish was designed and prepared, we’d have learned that the chili from the competition and the chili from the menu were not the same.
A rather non-plussed management type from the restaurant admitted that the dish in the competition had been created after closing hours the previous evening when the kitchen staff (and maybe the servers, and perhaps some late-staying customers) realized it was time to create an entry. Some mixing, some matching, some corn, several different types of beans, chicken breasts, a fine hand with herbs and spices, and voila, chili.
Wine was different. It came from A. Bommarito, one of our favorite distributors, with red, white and rose offerings to taste alongside the chili. The wines, all from 2007 and all between $10 and $14 (more than twice that on a restaurant list), were excellent values, to accompany chili or anything else. As far as the chili was concerned, we thought the whites, and especially the rose, offered the best matches. Our favorite was an Italian rose from Friuli, imported by Joseph Bastianich, the New York restaurateur and partner of Mario Batali. The delicious, fruit-forward, quaffing wine, certainly dry enough for us, but with a hint of grapey fruitiness to balance the heat of the chile peppers, has been a favorite in our house for several years, or since Ann discovered it, almost by accident, at Batali’s Greenwich Village restaurant Babbo in New York. It has a lovely pink color, and can double as a winning drink — or tasty gift — for Valentine’s Day.
A Selbach ‘07 Riesling, from Alsace, had a bright, mineral finish, and a little sweetness to cut the spice. A good companion to the chili. Toad Hollow Chardonnay, a tribute to the late Todd Williams, brother of Robin and a splendid winemaker, was dry and will be a pleasure to some, but was not quite to our taste. By the way, the Toad Hollow label will not disappear; Todd’s widow will continue the winery. Toad of the label is a boyhood nickname given by his brother, obviously a comedian his entire life.
The reds, all very tasty, with the flavor and body we enjoy at our house, included a rather austere Sonoma County Pinot Noir from Castle Rock, a delicious, fruity Malbec from Tillia Vineyards in Argentina’s Mendoza Valley and a charming blend from Stickleback, a rich, hearty Australian offering that was primarily Cabernet Sauvignon (52 percent), bolstered with Shiraz (Syrah) (33), Grenache (10) and Dolcetto (5). But they just don’t work for us with the spice of the chilis, or the burgoo.
The chili competitors, all from the Wildwood area, were: B. Donovan's Steakhouse Grill, Big Bear Grill, Brickhouse Pub & Grill, Indigo Joe's, Rise & Dine Restaurant, and Simply Sue's Cafe.
-Joe