There's a postage stamp-sized appellation right at the base of the French Alps, a magical place, off the tourist routes and not too changed by the passage of time: Bugey. Perhaps it’s a likely setting to make a wine like none other: made from Gamay, with fine, rich bubbles -- it’s delicately off-dry and not at all cloying. In the summer we drink it with fried chicken, and call ourselves pros; in the Turkey Season some call winter we do it with roast birds and the whole mess of things on the table, and watch lightbulbs go off over our friends' heads. La Cuverie's version is 100% organic and freakishly fun to drink.
