Regis Bouvier Bourgogne Rouge En Montre Cul

2017 Vintage- A small restaurant in Beaune long ago had a minimalist concept that I loved: two big communal tables, no menu, and no wine list. You showed up, and the chef, seated at the bar, would finish his glass of rouge and saunter off to the kitchen to cook whatever hunks of pork he happened to be offering that day and boil some potatoes. Dinner was just that, a massive portion of meat and potatoes served on a wooden slab, with a few lonely leaves of lettuce, perhaps to clear the conscience. The house rouge—bright, zippy, loads of fun—was none other than Bouvier’s En Montre Cul, priced so that you could order bottle after bottle, and such a pleasure to drink it guaranteed a good time. Looking back, the food wasn’t even that good, but it didn’t really matter. Sometimes the wine more than makes up for shortcomings in the kitchen.