Tasting: Picpoul de Pinet

Name: Picpoul de Pinet
Variety: 100% Picpoul
Region: Languedoc 
Country: France 
Year: 2010
Price: $7.99

Wine Review: Always a great value, the new vintage of Beaulieu Picpoul is super fresh and bursting with aromas of exotic luscious mouthfuls of round, spicy fruit. According to Robert Parker, this has been a perennial BEST BUY selection from an excellent cooperative in the Languedoc. 


My review: It's very interesting because I tasted this white wine at the Zeppoli's wine tasting dinner a while ago and loved it. I bought a bottle and brought it home, kept in in a drawer until I wanted to chill it, and then tried it again. This time, I did not enjoy it at all. I would rank it about a 4 out of 10 for a white wine. Whites are my favorite, and there hasn't been one that I've tried yet that I did not enjoy, until now. I tried to figure out what had changed; maybe something had gone wrong where I stored it, or maybe since I only had a couple sips at the dinner I didn't really get to experience the whole wine. Anyway, the second time around, this white wine did not have strong aromas at all. It smelled mostly of floral and light fruits, but it was hard to get much from it. The taste was just as dull; it was bone dry and not sweet at all, which is what I prefer with my white wines. I could identify some flavors of white pepper and lime, a combination that I was not thrilled with. I did not pair it with any food, but since it is a dry white wine, it would probably go together nicely with a fish dish. Unfortunately, I will not be buying this again.