Piquepoul Blanc

Identity

Piquepoul Blanc is the only grape in this pass with a French appellation to its name: Picpoul de Pinet, on the Languedoc coast, where it is the principal variety.

It is also, like the Grenaches, a mutation — the white-berried version of Piquepoul Noir. The same variety in the geneticist's sense, a distinct grape in the cahier des charges.

Its name is a grower's word. "Piquepoul" suggests something that stings the lip, and it is a description of its acidity. A variety named after the sensation it leaves in the mouth is rare, and this one keeps its promise.

What sets it apart in the Midi

The whole family of southern whites in this corpus suffers the same fault: Grenache Blanc lacks acidity, Clairette lacks it, Bourboulenc only holds the alcohol down. Piquepoul Blanc is the exception.

It is "sought on the Languedoc coast for its lively acidity, which stands up well to heat". That is precisely what the others do not have, and it is why it has an appellation of its own rather than a supporting role.

Its ripeness is late, which is part of the same mechanism: finishing late means picking once the nights have cooled, and so keeping the acid.

In the glass

Lively, saline whites with marked acidity. The two descriptors on this entry are lime and sea spray — the second being a reading of the salinity tasters attribute to the wines of this coast, not a compound.

Made for drinking young, on fruit and freshness. It is not a wine for keeping and this entry does not pretend otherwise.

Its pairing is almost a local cliché and it is a sound one: oysters, shellfish, raw fish. The coast that produces it is the coast of the Thau oyster beds.

Where it is named

At Picpoul de Pinet, the principal variety of the appellation that carries its name — with that difference in spelling, "picpoul" for the wine, "piquepoul" for the variety in the official catalogue.

In the southern Rhône, where Châteauneuf-du-Pape's specification names it among the permitted varieties — one makeweight among thirteen.

And in Provence, at Palette, as an accessory for the whites.

What this entry does not say

Its vigour, which Pl@ntGrape does not state — the field stays empty, meaning "not established". Its quantified structure, undocumented beyond the acidity described in prose. And the exact relationship between the three Piquepouls this corpus knows — blanc, gris and noir — beyond the fact that the white is a mutation of the black.