Wine Education

Wine Tasting at all FOUR locations

Taste the La Croix Gratiot Picpoul de Pinet  at all four of our locations this Saturday, March 30 from 11am-4pm. (each store will also have other wines out to taste)

A little more education: We are going to try to feature either a grape or a wine region each week at our stores. We will give you some background information on the grape or region and feature a wine that highlights what we are featuring. We will taste that wine on Saturday at all four of our locations. We will post it here in our blog and send it out in our emails - click here to sign up for our emails

I have started a new label "Education" that you can hit to read all the education articles (see the right column under the heading "labels".

Grape: Picpoul de Pinet

image from Wikipedia

Picpoul de Pinet: Aptly translated to “Lip Stinger” for it’s bright acidity and palate cleansing freshness has long been a favorite of the staff at The Wine and Cheese Place. Picpoul has a long history in the Languedoc region, and along with Cinsaut and Clairette Blanche is one of the oldest domestic grape varieties of that region. Picpoul had a reputation as a quality grape as early as the early 17th century. It was blended with Clairette Blanche to produce the wine Picardan in the 17th & 18th centuries. However after the Great French Wine Blight, when large shifts in varieties planted took place, Picpoul lost popularity due to its susceptibility to fungal diseases such as oidium and its low yield. Over the past two decades due to more modern wine making and an overall commitment to quality the profile of Picpoul has been raised. No longer relegated to a footnote or answer to a trivia question (name all 13 varietals that are allowed to be blended into Chateauneuf du Pape) Picpoul is the perfect compliment to oysters on the half shell and most any shell fish.   Make sure you try this wine and find out why it is our best selling white wine:

2011 La Croix Gratiot Picpoul de Pinet......$9.99

Picpoul de Pinet has wonderful aromatics. In the nose, white flowers and freshly cut melon perfume the wine. In the mouth, pear and white peach flavors mix with subtle tropical fruit notes. In the finish, the wine is crisp with bright citrus fruit.