Panel tasting results: The best Picpoul de Pinets offering texture, flavour and freshness
Good scores and a range of styles showed why reliably refreshing Picpoul de Pinet wines are a go-to choice on so many bistro or gastro-pub wine lists.
Natalie Earl, Heather Dougherty and Wieteke Teppema tasted 65 wines, with 3 Outstanding and 31 Highly recommended
Picpoul de Pinet: Panel tasting scores
65 wines tasted
Exceptional 0
Outstanding 3
Highly recommended 31
Recommended 17
Commended 14
Fair 0
Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their white wines from the Picpoul de Pinet AP in Languedoc, of any style, including latest releases, older vintages and Patience cuvées
Patience a virtue?
Domaine de Petit Roubié
This positive tasting offered some surprises and good scores, revealing a category on the move, with more diversity than you might expect from the UK’s favourite pub wine.
Picpoul de Pinet’s dependable (albeit rather homogenous) image has helped sales soar, enabling the wines to become a bottle shop and restaurant staple – especially in its largest export market, the UK, which accounted for more than 55% of its total exports of 9.14m bottles in 2025 (source: French customs, via CIVL).
Both Heather Dougherty and Wieteke Teppema were expecting consistency and a certain uniformity of style: fresh, citrussy and saline. But does this still represent Picpoul de Pinet’s calling card?
In 2018, the appellation introduced ‘Patience’: richer wines with more ageing potential.
Later picking leads to riper fruit, often from older vines; wines are aged for at least six months, often on the lees.
There were some impressive examples here, but others weren’t quite fresh enough to counter their exuberance.
No doubt this new style has opened a discussion around what Piquepoul Blanc – the appellation’s sole permitted variety – is capable of, giving producers license and confidence to be more creative.
So much so that Dougherty noted ‘a blurring of the lines, with extended lees ageing and intensity of flavour found in both Patience styles and regular bottlings’.
Picpoul de Pinet lightens up for the environment
In an innovative move, the Picpoul de Pinet appellation has given its eye-catching green, fluted bottle a bit of a makeover.
Working with local glass producer Veralia, the appellation has developed a new bottle that weighs just 420g.
That’s 120g less than the previous iteration, which, according to the appellation’s governing body, will represent a 22% reduction in carbon emissions during the bottle’s production. It will reduce transport emissions, too, as 90 more bottles can be packed onto each pallet.
The Neptune bottle, as it’s often called, was developed in 1995 as a way to make Picpoul de Pinet wines stand out, especially in export markets.
With a wave pattern embossed around the neck of the bottle, the aim was to promote the link between the wine and the sea, and in particular seafood.
This new development means that if producers wish to use that recognisable bottle, lightweight is the only option.
Of course, producers aren’t obliged to use the Neptune – but the appellation reports that nearly 80% of production goes into them.
If an appellation can actively help its producers reduce their carbon footprint, then it becomes a shared responsibility, more than an individual one, which is ultimately much easier to navigate.
'Producers are taking vineyard health and healthy grapes seriously'
Most 2025s hadn’t yet been bottled, so there were 43 wines from the 2024 vintage, against 18 from 2025.
Seven of the 2025s scored below 86pts (the cutoff for Commended), and six had a pink tinge, possibly due to sunburnt grapes following two big heatwaves in August 2025.
Other 2025s were bright and zingy, however.
Despite vintage-specific issues, quality keeps improving and Teppema observed: ‘Most were certified Haute Valeur Environnementale or organic. Producers are taking vineyard health and healthy grapes seriously, helping to raise the overall quality of the wines.’
The three top-scoring wines offer different flavour and texture experiences.
Although a move away from a singular style across the appellation risks confusing consumers, most wines still show the trademark marine character, meaning consumers can still buy confidently at accessible price points.
What to eat with Picpoul de Pinet, by Fiona Beckett
Like Muscadet, Picpoul de Pinet has one obvious go-to in terms of pairing: oysters – in Picpoul’s case from the nearby Etang de Thau lagoon – which suit the bright, zesty, briny character of the simpler, more inexpensive wines perfectly. (I well remember scoffing them in the sun outside a café in Bouzigues one Christmas Eve!)
In fact it’s hard to get away from seafood, given that Picpoul is a coastal wine, but it doesn’t have to be French.
You can drink Picpoul with any kind of ‘crudo’, with sushi, with chargrilled squid, with Greek food – it goes well with both feta and taramasalata – and with salads, where its own acidity can handle a sharp dressing. (It’s particularly good with a tomato salad.)
With the more complex, textured Patience category of these wines, the simplest rule of thumb is to think cooked rather than raw fish and shellfish, especially the whole wood-roasted fish, such as turbot, that’s so popular in open-fire restaurants these days. It’s also good with a Provençal-style fish soup or a hearty fish stew.
See all notes and scores from the Picpoul de Pinet tasting
The judges
Natalie Earl is Decanter’s Regional Editor for France & Sustainability Editor. Based in London, she’s a keen advocate for organic, sustainable and natural wines, and particularly enjoys discovering the wines of Languedoc and Roussillon
Heather Dougherty is a wine educator, writer and judge. A former Chair of the Association of Wine Educators, she regularly presents to wine clubs and societies, and represents various trade clients. She is a DWWA Senior Judge for Languedoc-Roussillon
Wieteke Teppema is head of beverage for Adam Byatt Restaurants. A wine buyer and competition judge, including for the DWWA, her career spans top Michelin-starred restaurants and specialist wine importers
Picpoul de Pinet panel tasting results:
Wines were tasted blind
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