Saint Martin de la Garrigue’s 2010 Coteaux du Languedoc Blanc Picpoul de Pinet offers a delicious compendium of that genre’s virtues. Mouth-filling and faintly oily in texture, it nevertheless delivers generous refreshment, with bitterness of preserved lemon rind and tang of fresh pineapple suffused with brine and chalk that I honestly believe would practically compel one – even absent knowledge of Picpoul’s history or geography – to think of the sea, or of devouring a fresh oyster! Relish this over the next 12-18 months. From a high rise overlooking both the Herault River and the Mediterranean – halfway between Pezenas and Meze – Italian-, American-owned Saint Martin de la Garrigue turns out some consistently excellent values under the winemaking auspices of Jean-Claude Zabalia. I tasted only a selection of samples that reflected one vintage each in white and red. (Had I not been late in so-doing, these notes would – and, geographically speaking ought to – have been included in my issue 195 report.)Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524