If you walked into a bistro in France up until about twenty years ago, the chances were you would find the same items scrawled in chalk on a black board in Paris as you would in Beaune or Montpellier. There might be a few regional or seasonal variations, but some combination of a salade niçoise, escargots, steak tartare, cassoulet, and various pâtés would likely feature on each menu.
     Then, around the same time that luminaries like Alice Waters and Michael Pollan revived a farm-to-table ethos on our shores, creative, young chefs in Paris and beyond led a similar movement in France. In addition to sourcing better ingredients, these chefs began to expand upon the 20th century canon of bistro classics. Alongside a plate of charcuterie in Saint-Romain, for instance, you might now find a pissaladière and a simple, yet sublime carpaccio of tuna and beets marinated in a local soy sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds. At Bèou Bistrot, the excellent bistro in Avignon where I had lunch last Friday, the ever-changing menu featured a perfectly tender grilled snapper, broccoli beignets, and pears poached in wine among a handful of other such options.
     Whether in one of Paris’s bustling arrondissements or a sleepy village, what these establishments universally offer more than any one classic dish is an unpretentious atmosphere of gathering and joie de vivre. “It’s where everyone feels good and finds their place,” chef Marie Petit of Bèou Bistrot told me. “Above all, it should be friendly, warm, and simple.”
     As the menus of bistros have expanded over the last few decades, so have their wine lists. On the same chalkboard showcasing a generous and pure Mâcon Villages, you might also find a zesty and mineral Venetian white, like Gregoletto’s Manzoni Bianco, which may not come from France, but whose spirit still fits beautifully next to the oysters or grilled fish of the day. Or next to a quintessential bistro rouge, like Alex Foillard’s silky and exuberant Beaujolais-Villages, the chef might share a similarly charming blend from the island of Corsica. What unites these wines, and those in the twelve bottles in this sampler, is that they embody the same joyous, convivial, fresh, and thoughtful-but-simple spirit as our favorite bistros.