Picpoul

Languedoc's lemony shellfish white; Picpoul de Pinet.

Picpoul — the name translates as lip-stinger, a reference to the high acid — is the white grape of Picpoul de Pinet on the Languedoc coast near the Etang de Thau oyster lagoon. Wines are bone-dry, citric, mineral, and meant for shellfish. The grape sometimes appears in Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc blends as Piquepoul Blanc and is permitted in the Southern Rhône. New World plantings are essentially nonexistent.