Tag Archives: picpoul

Wine of the week: Les Costières de Pomérols Picpoul 2022

Les Costières de Pomérols Picpoul bottle
Les Costières de Pomérols Picpoul 2022/$8-$16

This vintage of the French wine is different from the last, but that doesn’t make it bad

Wine is not necessarily supposed to taste exactly the same every vintage, no matter how hard Big Wine tries to make it otherwise. Because, as I learned a long time ago, vintage differences are one of the things that make wine wine.

Case in point: The Les Costières de Pomérols Picpoul 2022 ($12, purchased, 13%). Picpoul is a white grape that is known for the tart wine it makes — hence, lip-stinger. The 2022 is softer and not as tart as previous vintages of the Costieres de Pomerols, but that is neither good nor bad. It’s just different.

The 2022 has more golden delicious apple fruit (sort of geeky wine descriptor alert!) than the more typical lemon and citrus. But the other bits of a well-made picpoul are there, including a touch of green herbs and that classy, clean finish. Chill it and drink on its own, or with almost anything that isn’t big, red, meat.

It’s also worth noting that picpoul wines remains tremendous values, despite everything else going on in wine. I checked the Wine-Searcher list of most popular picpouls for this post, and 18 of the top 20 cost $15 or less.

A wine of the week doesn’t get much more curmudgeonly than that, does it?

Imported by Kysela Pere & Fils

Wine of the week: La Chapelle du Bastion Picpoul de Pinet 2022

La Chapelle du Bastion Picpoul de Pinet bottle
La Chapelle du Bastion Picpoul de Pinet 2022/$10-$16

This white from southern France offers a refreshing change during a long, hot summer

One of the less appreciated aggravations of premiumization is that it has led producers to focus on specific wine styles – chardonnay, of course, and sauvignon blanc, as well as rose and reds – the trendy blends and a handful of varietals. So not only does ordinary wine cost more, but it has become more difficult to find wines that aren’t like those.

Cases in point are muscadet and picpoul, which sit somewhere between chardonnay and sauvignon blanc and which are not only interesting, but very, very fairly priced. Plus they’re just the whites for a hot summer, the antithesis of a heavy, too oaky chardonnay.

We’ve written much about both on the blog, despite the difficulty in sometimes finding the wines. But my job, if nothing else, is to keep looking, and it’s almost always worth the effort.

Such as the La Chapelle du Bastion Picpoul de Pinet 2022 ($12, purchased, 12.5%). Most picpouls, which come from southern France, offer a tart, almost puckery fruit flavor (picpoul can be translated as “lips-macking,” more or less). But this is a softer, rounder picpoul, so there is almost some stone fruit lurking in the mix, as well as the citrus and the sort of stony finish.

Highly recommended, and a candidate for the 2023 Hall of Fame. Chill this and drink it when you want wine that refreshes.

Imported by Monsieur Touton Selection

Wine of the week: Domaine Guillaume Cabrol Picpoul de Pinet 2021

Domaine Guillaume Cabrol Picpoul de Pinet bottle
Domaine Guillaume Cabrol Picpoul de Pinet 2021/$10-$16

Once again, a French picpoul demonstrates its value and quality

The Wine Curmudgeon was talking to a friend the other day, and we were bemoaning the state of U.S. cheap wine. “Why can’t I find quality U.S, wine the way I can find quality European wine for less than than $15?” my friend asked. “You’d think, after shipping costs and the importer’s cut, European wines would cost more.”

Which makes perfect sense, but we are talking about the wine business, aren’t we?

Case in point: the Domaine Guillaume Cabrol Picpoul de Pinet 2021 ($13, purchased, 13%), which can be found for as little as $10. What possible economic reason can there be that this wine costs less than so many California wines of similar – or even less — quality?

Because the Cabrol is a terrific wine for the price: A sold, well-made, and varietally correct picpoul, something we’ve seen lots of on the blog in the past couple of years. Picpoul is a white grape from the Languedoc in southern France; its name literally translates to lip-smacking because the wine can be so tart.

This wine is a little more sophisticated than most; yes, it’s tart and lemony, but it’s not quite as rough around the edges and there’s even a bit of minerality. Chill it, serve it with a couscous salad and some grilled chicken breast.

Imported by David Bowler Wine

Wine of the week: La Chapelle du Bastion Picpoul 2021

La Chapelle du Bastion Picpoul de Pinet bottle
La Chapelle du Bastion Picpoul 2021/$10-$15

This French white, made with a lesser known grape, is just the thing for the end of summer

How do we know that picpoul, a French white grape, is just the thing for those of us looking for value and quality? Wine-Searcher, hardly shy about catering to the 1 percent (“The most expensive wines in the world”!), notes that almost all of the most popular picpouls on its site cost less than $15, and several are less than $10.

So yes, picpoul, for value and quality – even in these days of “we’re going to charge more just to charge more.”

Ironically, I’ve reviewed very few picpouls over the years. But now that I have started to do more, the La Chapelle du Bastion 2021 ($12, purchased, 13%) shows what I was missing when I didn’t taste enough of them.

The wine is less lipsmackingingly tart than picpoul is supposed to be (insert obligatory reference about picpoul’s meaning in English). Which, actually, is a pleasant surprise, since that leaves room for other qualities. Yes, it’s lemony, but there is also what seems to be some tropical fruit in the middle as well as a bone dry and long finish.

Highly recommended, and candidate for the Hall of Fame next year as well as the 2022 Cheap Wine of the Year. Chill this, drink it on its own or enjoy it with end of the summer grilled vegetables or chicken.

Imported by Monsieur Tonton Selection

 

Wine of the week: Bonny Doon Picpoul 2021

Bonny Doon Picpoul bottle
Bonny Doon Picpoul 2021/$13-$20

Would that more winemakers understood the joys of picpoul

The Wine Curmudgeon loves picpoul, an odd white grape grown almost exclusively in southern France. The grape makes fresh, crisp, herbal and tart wines, perfect for hot summer weather like that in Dallas.

This means, of course, that picpoul is not easily found in Dallas (though those of you on the East Coast should have better luck).

Which is where Randall Grahm comes in. He has made this wine since 2012, and even in semi-retirement, his legacy lives on with the Bonny Doon Picpoul 2021 ($15, sample, 11%). It’s another in a long line of fine picpouls from France and California that showcases what the grape can do at a more than fair price.

Picpoul’s meaning is loosely translated as “lip-stinger” because of its acidity. The Bonny Doon is a little softer, thanks to some grenache blanc in the blend, but it’s not oaky chardonnay by any means. Look for some lemon and minerality, and an almost savory character. It’s a light wine in style, but it’s not thin.

Buy a bottle, chill it, and sit on the back porch – with plenty of shade, of course – as summer gets even hotter.

Mini-reviews 77: Reinhold Haart, Piccini, Picpoul, Corvina

Reinhold HaartReviews of wines that don ?t need their own post, but are worth noting for one reason or another. Look for it on the final Friday of each month.

?Reinhold Haart Riesling 2014 ($35, sample, 7%): Gorgeous, honeyed white wine with sweet lemon fruit — and not the fake Sweet Tart kind common these days — that reminds you how wonderful German riesling can be. This is sweet wine the way it should be, made to be a sweet riesling instead of just being made to be sweet.

?Piccini Memoro Rosso 2014 ($12, sample, 14%): Very ordinary Italian red blend of no particular interest, with that ashy middle that often shows up when too much winemaking is going on. The poorly done oak overshadows too soft red fruit.

?Domaine des Cadastres Picpoul 2014 ($10, sample, 13%): Regular visitors know how much the Wine Curmudgeon appreciates picpoul, a cheap French white. Sadly, this isn’t one of them. Old-fashioned, but not in a good way, made with unripe grapes, almost no fruit flavor, and a too sour taste.

? Tenuta Sant’Antonio Corvina 2013 ($10, purchased 13%): One review of this Italian red made with the corvina grape (usually used as for blending) says it has tropical fruit, an interesting way to describe a red wine. Another way is flabby and soft, without any freshness or acidity. Very disappointing given the quality of the producer.

Wine of the week: F lines Jourdan Picpoul-de-Pinet 2013

Felines Jourdan picpoulPicpoul, the white wine made with the picpoul grape in southern France, is one of those summertime wines that most Americans, unless they write a wine blog, don’t know about. The catch, of course, is that given the way the wine world works, even if more of us knew about picpoul, we probably wouldn’t be able to buy it. The last time I checked, the retailers that bother (and even the good ones) carry the same picpoul.

Because it’s not chardonnay, and aren’t we supposed to drink chardonnay?

Fortunately, the Wine Curmudgeon is ever vigilant, and can report that the Felines Jourdan picpoul ($10, sample, 13%) is well worth knowing, buying, and drinking — lots and lots of it, in fact. Jourdan makes a couple of picpouls, which by itself would recommend it to the Wine Curmudgeon. That this version of the Felines Jourdan picpoul is so well done, and offers so much more than almost any other picpoul I’ve tasted, makes it that much better.

Look for the varietal’s trademark tart lemon fruit (picpoul loosely translates as lip-stinger in English), as well as something softer — peach? — in the middle and a little minerality on the finish. Again, not something that a lot of $10, one-note wines have or even consider having.

Drink this chilled on its own or with almost any combination of boiled seafood this summer (or in any of the other nine months, actually). Highly recommended, and almost certain to go into the $10 Hall of Fame in January.