I have been beating the drum for years on the ease of pairing wines to the comfort food dishes that we enjoy every day. Go to that small place — a bistro or café, off the beaten path, say in France — and order coq au vin. Haute cuisine? Hardly. Merely comfort food in a French accent, served with a local wine. But is there a need to serve a French wine because it is coq au vin? Absolutely not. A Montepulciano d’Abruzzo would be just as good as a Loire Valley red. And therein lies the fun of the interchangeability of good regional wines — they just work with a whole bunch of different cuisines. Invariably these regional wines share a common element: good fruit, a dry finish, and a palate-cleansing level of acidity. A sip of wine stimulates your desire for the next forkful of food. Wine, food, a little conversation, another sip of wine, a bite of food. And that formula works as well in our homes as it does in Le Bistro Such and Such.
◆Regional wines are more interchangeable than the rules suggest — A Chianti Classico works with beef stew, coq au vin, roast lamb, a good burger, and your best steak. The common thread: good fruit, dry finish, and enough acidity to cleanse the palate and invite the next forkful. Regional Italian reds are among the most food-friendly wines in the world precisely because they were developed to accompany food rather than to stand alone.
◆Chianti Classico in 2026 is not the Chianti you had as an undergraduate — The 1995 overhaul of Chianti’s production laws transformed the category: high-density planting to concentrate flavor, elimination of the requirement for lesser red varietals and white grapes in the blend, and permission to use French barriques for aging. The result was a dramatic quality uplift that is still playing out three decades later in wines of genuine complexity and structure.
◆Il Molino di Grace remains one of the standout estates in Chianti Classico — Frank Grace’s family estate in Panzano has been producing wine for over 350 years and organic since 2014. With Franco Bernabei as consulting oenologist and Iacopo Morganti leading day-to-day winemaking, the estate produces Chianti Classico, Riserva, Gran Selezione, and the Super Tuscan Gratius — all unified by the philosophy of letting Sangiovese speak for itself with judicious oak.
◆Make the martini first — This is non-negotiable. Step one of this recipe exists for a reason. The stew will take care of itself in the slow cooker. The martini will not make itself. Priorities, people.
The Wine — Il Molino di Grace Chianti Classico
The cooler weather is here, and so is beef stew season. For this dish I have selected a Chianti Classico — and I want to tell you something about what Chianti Classico actually is in 2026, because it is not what most people assume from the name.
The bottling law in Chianti was overhauled in 1995. Tight, restrictive rules were lifted to allow producers to modernize their winemaking: plant vines at high density to lower yields and improve flavor concentration; eliminate the requirement to use lesser red grape varietals and white grapes in the blend; permit the use of new French barriques for aging. The result was a massive uplift in quality that the Chianti Classico DOCG has been building on for thirty years. The wine I am recommending is clearly not the Chianti we had as undergraduates. It is great with the comfort dish here, great with many other comfort dishes, and a great wine to serve alongside your best steak.
Il Molino di Grace — Panzano, Chianti Classico DOCG
The Il Molino di Grace winery is one of the standouts in Chianti Classico. Vineyards have been on the property for over 350 years — harvested first by monks from the local monastery, now under the stewardship of the Grace family who purchased the estate in the 1990s and incorporated the historic 19th-century windmill (il molino) into the winery’s name. A nine-meter statue of San Francesco della Vigne stands over the vines, blessing the harvest.
Franco Bernabei — who has won more Tre Bicchieri awards than any other winemaker in Italy, and who also makes wines for greats like Fontodi and Felsina — serves as consulting oenologist. Day-to-day winemaking is led by Iacopo Morganti, who has brought fresh energy while honoring the estate’s philosophy completely. The estate has farmed organically since 2014.
Frank Grace’s stated philosophy: “Our goal is crafting elegant wines that express their terroir through the Sangiovese grape. Our use of oak must be judicious — we want Sangiovese to dominate.” Look for the Chianti Classico for everyday pairing, the Riserva for special occasions, and the Gran Selezione for your finest meals. The 2021 Chianti Classico Riserva, released in January 2026, is drawing excellent notices — drink 2026 through 2031.
A Note on the 1995 Chianti Classico Law Change
Before 1995, Chianti producers were legally required to include white grapes (Trebbiano and Malvasia) and lesser red varietals in their blends alongside Sangiovese. This was a holdover from 19th-century regulations that were designed to produce high volumes of light, easy-drinking wine — not to make great wine. The 1995 reform eliminated these requirements, allowing producers to make 100% Sangiovese Chianti Classico for the first time, plant their vines more densely to concentrate flavor, and use French oak barrels for aging. The wine in your glass today is the direct result of those reforms. The Chianti Classico of 2026 and the Chianti Classico of 1985 are not the same wine.
Bistro Beef Stew
Here is another dish — like meatloaf — where there is an abundance of recipes. There probably isn’t a beef stew you can’t riff off to suit your mood and ingredient availability. That certainly goes for this recipe. I love that a slow cooker is used. Prep it, assemble it, forget it.
Ingredients
For Step 1 (non-negotiable):
6 oz Tanqueray Gin · ½ oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth · Ice · Olives
For the stew:
3–4 lbs boneless beef chuck roast, cut into 1½-inch chunks
2 tbsp olive oil · ½ cup dry red wine · ¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp tomato paste · 1 tbsp minced fresh garlic
2 cups low-sodium beef broth · 2 tbsp Herbes de Provence
1 tbsp Dijon mustard · 1 tbsp A-1 steak sauce · 1 dried bay leaf
2 lbs baby red-skinned potatoes, quartered
10 medium carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 cup frozen pearl onions · ½ cup frozen peas
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice · Chopped fresh parsley to garnish
Directions
Step 1. Put gin and vermouth into a glass pitcher, fill with ice, stir vigorously while incanting: “You who know all, thank you for providing us juniper and all the other obscure ingredients responsible for creating this sacred liquid!” Strain into a pre-frozen martini glass of admirable size. Skewer the olives on one of those tacky cocktail swords and place in glass. Immediately begin consuming. Now you can begin the food prep and the cooking.
Step 2. Brown beef in 2 batches in 1 tbsp oil per batch in a large skillet over high heat, 4–6 minutes per batch. Transfer to a 6-quart slow cooker.
Step 3. Deglaze skillet with wine, scraping up any brown bits. Add beef broth, stir in flour, tomato paste, and garlic; cook for a minute and whisk until smooth. Add Herbes de Provence, Dijon mustard, A-1 sauce, and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper.
Step 4. Add potatoes, carrots, and onions to the sauce, mix thoroughly, then pour sauce over beef. Cover slow cooker and cook until fork tender on high setting 5–6 hours, or low setting 7–8 hours.
Step 5. Stir in lemon juice and frozen peas.
Step 6. Garnish with fresh parsley. Open the Chianti Classico. Pour. Resume the formula: wine, food, conversation, wine, food.
Notes from Jim
Herbes de Provence is a blended spice that usually includes oregano, thyme, savory, lavender, basil, rosemary, fennel, and sage. Easy to source through mail order; I went to three different local food markets before finding it locally.
The lemon juice adds a finishing brightness to the stew that rounds everything out.
The frozen peas stirred in just before serving is brilliant. The hot stew immediately warms them sufficiently while maintaining their firm texture. Do not skip the peas.
Jim Winston is a Connecticut-based wine educator and storyteller who writes under the name Grapes Éminence Grise. He has been introducing people to the pleasures of wine and food for decades — starting, in at least one case, with a well-made martini and a persuasive conversation about why Chianti Classico deserves more respect than it gets.
