I genuinely don’t know how I’ve managed this, but until about a week ago I had never properly come across Picpoul.
Never bought it. Never really noticed it. Never sat there thinking I should probably try one.
Then suddenly it appeared on my radar, so obviously I had to get a bottle.
This one was a Tesco Finest Picpoul de Pinet, about £8 or £9, and I went into it with absolutely no history with the grape at all.
Sometimes that is actually quite nice because you are not comparing it with ten other bottles in your head.
You can just drink the thing.
So what is Picpoul?
Picpoul is the grape.
Picpoul de Pinet is the wine from that particular area in the south of France.
That area is very closely linked with seafood, particularly oysters, which gives you quite a useful clue about the sort of wine we are dealing with.
If a wine is regularly being drunk alongside oysters and fresh seafood, it is probably not going to be some massive, heavy white that sits in your mouth for half an hour.
You are expecting freshness.
You are expecting acidity.
Something light enough that it works with the food rather than bullying it.
That was the theory anyway.
Time to actually drink it.
First impressions
The colour is really pale.
Straight away it looks like a light, fresh white rather than something rich and heavy.
On the nose, it did not exactly leap out of the glass.
I got some lemon and lime, then maybe a little bit of apple. There is not loads going on aromatically, at least not in this bottle, but it does smell clean and fresh.
I had also read somewhere about Picpoul having a slightly salty character because of where it comes from.
Could I smell that?
Possibly.
Could I also be imagining it because somebody had already planted the idea in my head?
Absolutely.
That happens more often in wine than people admit.
Then I tasted it
And this is where I understood it immediately.
Really fresh.
Really light.
Loads of acidity.
You take a sip and your mouth starts watering almost straight away. That is the acidity doing its job, and there is plenty of it here.
It is zippy without being unpleasant.
Lemony, clean, really easy to drink cold.
And suddenly the seafood thing makes complete sense.
I could absolutely see this with oysters, grilled fish, prawns, something oily where you want the wine to cut through and freshen everything up.
My head actually went somewhere much less glamorous.
Brighton.
Bag of fish and chips.
Bottle of this straight out of the fridge.
That sounds pretty good to me.
Sauvignon Blanc drinkers should probably try this
If you normally reach for Sauvignon Blanc because you like that fresh, crisp style, Picpoul is worth putting on the list.
It is not the same wine.
You are not getting exactly the same fruit or character.
But it sits in a similar sort of world.
Fresh, light, easy to drink, plenty of acidity.
If Sauvignon is your default midweek white, this could be a nice change without taking you somewhere completely different.
That is probably where I would put it myself.
Wednesday or Thursday evening.
Really cold bottle in the fridge.
No big occasion required.
Is this Tesco Picpoul any good?
For the money, yes.
This was under a tenner and I would happily drink it again.
It is not a wine I would tell you to sit with for an hour trying to find fifteen different aromas.
That is not really what I enjoyed about it.
It is refreshing.
It is straightforward.
And when it is cold, it is ridiculously easy to drink.
Possibly too easy when you remember it is 12.5%.
That bit sneaks up on you.
Would I buy Picpoul again?
Definitely.
This was my first proper go at it, so I am not going to pretend one Tesco bottle suddenly makes me the Picpoul expert.
But I get it now.
If you like fresh whites, drink Sauvignon Blanc quite regularly, or just want something different for seafood, I think this is worth trying.
And if you are eating oysters, you are already several levels more sophisticated than I usually am on a Wednesday night.
Personally, I am still going with the fish and chips.
If you want to see my first reaction to Picpoul and watch the full tasting, have a look at the video below. And if this is already one of your regular bottles, let me know. I am interested to know what I have apparently been missing all these years.
