Picpoul de Pinet - La Croix Gratiot video tasting
Posted on April 9th, 2009
Saved in Sour Grapes recommends, Video tasting, White wine, €10-€15
Background to Picpoul de Pinet
Picpoul de Pinet is the name given to this white wine from Languedoc in the south of France. The grape is Picpoul blanc.
Not a hint of “acacia” or “hawthorn blossom” as described by an Irish online retailer who I won’t name and shame.
The importers, Liberty Wines, describe it in more accessible terms:
Bright, light yellow in colour with hints of green, this Picpoul is an aromatic, youthful wine, with perfumes of pears and citrus fruit. It has good depth of lemony, zesty fruit on the palate, with a zippy finish.
For me, this wine was all about the lemon sherbet, which doesn’t really do it justice because it’s a cracking good wine.
Only €11.99 from Drinkstore, Manor Street, Stoneybatter. Smashing.
Acacia is right up there with damson fruit and loganberries in the list of fruits / flowers that you commonly see used to describe wines, but I have NEVER seen in real life.
I think cheap-to-mid-range restaurants are the worst for the lame, inaccurate wine descriptors. Make some effort, guys!
Some of those apparently very recondite comparisons come about as lazy or poor translations from the original language, and in my job, speakingly entirely generally, the French reveal themselves the worst culprits for not exporting properly localized descriptions with their wines. Either the technical sheets for the wines are all in French, which leaves the responsibility for a useful translation with the importer; or they’re in English often so hit-and-miss that all you (I) can rely on is the French translator’s dictionary work of looking up the nouns.
Other European countries on the whole provide more tersely prosaic notes of the ‘dry red’ variety, which pass the buck to the importer in a different way.
Just taste ‘em, I hear you cry. Well, we do, often, but it isn’t always easy to differentiate, say, a dozen dry white wines when writing a list for a restaurant customer, where each note can run to only about twenty words or so - and then I’m pretty glad of a bit of hawthorn or lime blossom.
I agree about the bad notes on restaurant lists, though. Someone, somewhere along the line, whether it’s the winemaker, importer, distributor or restaurateur, ought to be able to provide a decent, accurate description. How the wine list is presented is a front-of-house matter of courtesy as much as any other, and patrons should expect to be judged on it.
And while I entirely take the point you’ve both made, gentlemen, there do walk among us foodies and gardeners and the like, who may really know how many of those unfamiliar plants and foods affect the senses. Let them tickle your curiosity, and don’t be too hard on them.
Hi Julian,
thanks for the insight on the challenges of putting tasting notes together.
It’s often not as simple as just making it simple.
I suppose my beef with this one was it that it was pretty much the only descriptor of the wine’s aroma.
But for a wine under €12, perhaps the price alone is more than enough to turn browsers to buyers.
Lar
funnily enough we tried that very bottle on Good Friday. It didn’t captivate like the Fumee Blanches but did get a good reaction….touch and go to see if it makes it onto the list….
https://welldonefillet.blogspot.com/2009/04/it-was-very-good-fridayfrom-what-i.html
Hi Lar
Many thanks for the review. The 2008 of this wine will be available shortly.
Gerry
Liberty Wines
Wine? On Good Friday? How dare you, sir!
Hi Gerry,
thanks for that, looking forward to trying it.
Lar