Picpoul

Picpoul is a high-acid white wine from the Languedoc coast of southern France, made from the ancient Piquepoul blanc grape and famous above all in the form of Picpoul de Pinet, the crisp, lemony white grown around the Etang de Thau lagoon near the town of Pinet. The name itself means roughly "lip-stinger" — a nod to the grape's mouth-watering, almost saline tartness — and the wine is the textbook partner to the oysters and shellfish farmed in the same waters. Pale green-gold, dry and light-bodied, it leads with fresh lemon and white-flower notes over a brisk, mineral, sea-spray finish. Low in alcohol and bracingly fresh, it is one of France's classic seafood whites, best drunk young and well chilled. It is the largest dry-white appellation of the Languedoc and a benchmark for crisp, affordable coastal wine.