Blame it on Rioja

Despite a recent spike in popularity, drinking rosé is still largely thought of as a warm-weather activity—the legacy of its long association with sun-dappled Provencal summers.

Which is a shame, because there are quite a few lovely rosé pairings to be had with foods often thought of as winter fare.

Take chili for example.

One recent Saturday afternoon, Lily and I were lounging in front of the TV watching the Food Network, one of the few channels that doesn’t inspire remote control upheaval in our living room, and both of us became entranced by an episode of Down Home with the Neelys, in which the effortlessly charming duo of Patrick and Gina Neely prepared a pork and beef chili (see recipe below) so tantalizing that we quickly agreed to doing the same for dinner that very night.

Having parted with a significant quantity of our wine stocks during a party we hosted two nights before, we settled on a bottle of one of our ‘house’ wines, Bodegas Muga 2008 Rioja Rosado (around $13), to drink alongside the finished chili.

Spicy,  hearty, cheesy, creamy and scalliony, the chili was devastatingly satisfying, in a way that makes you feel equal parts warm, loved,  grateful, and sedentary.  A full-bodeied red wine might have been fine, but with the kind of richness and weight found in this sort of winter meal, I was pleased to refresh my palate with livelier wine, rather than sink my palate into deeper territory.

I’m indebted to winemaker Jorge Muga, who once called his rosé a ‘gastronomic wine,’ a wine that’s even better with food, not only because I much prefer this expression to ‘a food wine,’ which, Karen MacNeil has pointed out, can sometimes carry a negative connotation (meaning, “not so good on its own”), but also because I’ve repeated this expression time and again to explain the wine’s appeal.

There are only a handful of wines I’ve encountered that appeal to such a broad spectrum of palates as the Muga Rosé, from first-time tasters at consumer wine events, to experts as notoriously resistant to unqualified praise as Gerry Dawes.

And it’s nice to have discovered that it’s not just for summer anymore.

Pat’s Famous Beef and Pork Chili

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

• 6 slices thick-cut applewood smoked bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon chipotle chili powder
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound 85 percent lean ground beef
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 cup beer (recommended: Budweiser)
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (24-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 (24-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juice
• Lime wedges, for garnish
• Sour cream, for garnish
• Shredded Cheddar, for garnish
• Sliced scallions, for garnish

Directions

In large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until lightly crisp, stirring occasionally. Once the bacon is browned, add the garlic, onions, bell peppers, chili powder, cumin, chipotle chili powder, oregano, and smoked paprika and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook until the vegetables are tender and seasonings are aromatic. Add the beef and break it up with a wooden spoon. Once beef is broken up and beginning to brown, add the pork. Break up with wooden spoon like the beef, and brown, until no longer pink, roughly 4 minutes. Stir in the beer and beans. Toss together, then add the crushed and diced tomatoes. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper, if necessary. Transfer the chili to serving bowls and garnish with lime wedges, sour cream, shredded cheese, and sliced scallions.