Picpoul, Languedoc, France

A sparkly peak jewel made of quirky picpoul! This delightfully weirdo skin-contact bubbler from cult winemaker Antony Tortul is bold, fierce and just about as intense as Daniel Day Lewis as the bone rattling oil baron in “There Will Be Blood.” Originally from Ariège with a conventional oenology background, Antony changed tack after witnessing a devastating fertilizer factory explosion that killed 31 and injured thousands in his nearby Toulouse. He moved immediately away from the chemical industry towards wines that were connected to the land and place, establishing his project in 2008 from his dad’s garage. Now he grows his own grapes in southwest France (and buys some from his friends, too) and makes some of the most natural, zero-zero wines we can imagine – no additions, no subtractions, no nothin’! Here, citrusy & salty picpoul spends 23 days on its skins, then heads to sandstone jars to hang out on its lees for six months, upping the aromatics and the VIGOUR! A bottle today is all thick lemon wheel cut by the new guy, underripe banana, bundle of thyme hanging over the witch’s door, a rogue wave, water streaming on its own accord from the gym fountain & screamo haircut a la 2007. But it finishes with a pear-ricotta gelato that the family agreed was the best they had in all their late nights together on their only European trip, marked by long-bookmarked arguments and complicated coastal reprieve. Try it with picatta or puttanesca! (aka something with CAPERS!)