This is my favorite sub-$15 white wine in the store, and it's also one that I consider to be the ultimate summer white.
Dry, crisp, nicely concentrated, and offering up a wonderful interplay of ripe fruit, zesty acids, and mild minerality, La Chapelle du Bastion's Picpoul is a ton of wine for the money.
2023 La Chapelle Du Bastion Picpoul de Pinet
Josh's Favorite Sub-$15 White Wine!
The Picpoul grape is one of the most important whites of France's Languedoc region. The magic of the grape is that it retains freshness and vivaciousness (aka acidity), even in hot Mediterranean zones. The new vintage from La Chapelle du Bastion is another home run value, and I highly recommend you take advantage of the six-pack savings.
I've been drinking Picpoul for over 20 years now, and the grape usually yields clean and crisp whites perfect for washing down oysters and mussels. This one is ideal for that, but it's got a lot more concentration, richness, and complexity than most of its peers, and you can't beat the price.
If you've ever wondered what your wine mongers drink at home, look no further. It's not just me that loves this one, every member of the team adores it, and we recommend it with reckless abandon. From the village of Pinet, within a stone’s throw of the Mediterranean, it's our pick for the best all-around white wine value in the shop.
With good concentration to the green apple, peach, ripe citrus, and melon flavors, Picpoul often gets compared to Muscadet, the famously dry white wine of the Loire Valley. While this has certainly got that dry, clean, and mineralic style, the sunny Mediterranean climate endows this with a riper, richer, and more flamboyant style.
Stock up on this one for happy cocktail sipping or do the wine serious justice and enjoy with your favorite fish or seafood dishes.
