It was kind of brisk today – fall is definitely here. I was craving chili and happened to have this recipe with me. It was really, really good – and really easy to make.

• Beef & Black Bean Chili with Chipotle & Avocado (Fine Cooking #77, March 2006, p. 98c)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Wine: Valdez 2004 Rockpile Road Zinfandel (Rockpile, California). This is a wine from a new, small producer – the owner is a former fieldworker in the wine country. We first tasted this wine at ZAP almost two years ago, and it was lucious and a big fruit bomb. I wish they would have bottled it then, because when it was released this summer, it wasn’t as good. We were the first customers, however, and we now have a case of this wine. It seems a little out of balance, but it has good structure. It may just need time in the bottle. I’m not very good pinpointing what’s wrong with a wine, but I can tell when it’s not quite right. However, it opened up after some time and was much better later on.