Picpoul

Picpoul, or Piquepoul, is a white grape from the Languedoc, most famous as Picpoul de Pinet, grown around the Thau lagoon between Montpellier and Sète. The name means 'lip-stinger', a nod to its high natural acidity. The wines are pale, crisp and saline, with lemon, green apple and white flowers, made to be drunk young alongside the oysters and mussels farmed in the lagoon. Picpoul is also one of the thirteen permitted grapes of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and there are red and gray-skinned forms, though the white is by far the most common.