Discover Picpoul Blanc

Hey y’all, Kiara here!

We have a new wine hitting our menu soon and I wanted to take some time to talk to you about one of the varietals in it: Picpoul Blanc. The name quite literally means “lip stinger,” which is representative how high acid this grape is. Acid retention is very appealing to a winemaker, especially in warm wine growing regions, such as San Diego. 

A little bit of history… Picpoul Blanc is a grape variety originally from the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France. The most well known wines of this varietal come from Picpoul de Pinet AOC, and are most likely what you have seen in stores. Unfortunately, after the phylloxera outbreak in the 1880s, a lot of France never replanted their Picpoul vines, so the varietal is almost extinct except for in a few regions along the coast. Plantings of Picpoul Blanc in California have been on the rise, thanks to pioneers such as Tablas Creek… which leads me to why we planted it!

A few years ago, while starting to research what we should expand or plant next, I came across an article about Picpoul Blanc in California. This article had the opinions of several different growers and winemakers on Picpoul and how it’s likely the grape of the future, especially with climate change. Of course, from here I went down a bit of a rabbit hole and ended up stumbling across a statistic that stated that as more California vineyards planted Picpoul Blanc, we would have the largest amount in the world, it would no longer be France! Naturally, San Diego, and Mia Marie just had to be a part of that. Yes, I have always been a fan of the varietal, and it had already been on my short list of white varieties to plant, but this was an immediate yes from me! I would love to say that it has been easy since we put it in the ground, but she’s a fickle one, and it has been a learning experience for us all. Though, I do think that Picpoul Blanc is a great, and unique fit for San Diego’s wine region. The good news is that last vintage (2025), we got our first solid harvest from it, and we were able to make our first wine using the Estate Picpoul Blanc grapes.

Our 2025 Côtes de Coral is a blend of Picpoul Blanc and Viognier. As you can imagine, this wine is acid-driven, citrusy, and refreshing. It’s going to be one of our best white wines for San Diego summer. It is named for Mia and John’s daughter, but is also a nod to our beautiful coral colored sunsets we get to witness on our Tasting Room patio. 

If you want to learn more about our vines, join me on one of our weekly Estate tours 🙂

Talk to you all soon! – Kiara