I have made no secret now for a long time about my love for this wine from Languedoc. I discovered it first two years ago while we in holiday in Marseillan, about 10 kilometres from Pinet and it was a case of love at first sip.

Picpoul is a rare and very old French grape which has its main home on the terroir it loves the best, the sandy soil on the limestone plateau behind the Bassin de Thau in costal Languedoc.
This bassin of course, in typical French fashion, gives the Picpoul the food with which it goes best, the Mussels and Oysters which are farmed here.

Named, so they tell me after the pique, or sting the naturally dry wine gives to the lips it is a great wine with fish, to my palate far less acidic than Muscadet its rival from Brittany.
Its initial sharpness is dissipated with lemony and flowery flavours which make it delicious with the salty tang of shellfish.
It is neither a very complex nor expensive wine which makes it a great vin de table and a good aperitif either on its own or with a tiny dash of Cassis.
Watch out for it.