Tuna Niçoise With 2018 Groundwork Picpoul Nouveau

Glou-glou, chuggable, smashable (my most-hated), fresh, open, fun, patio-pounder (feels like hyphened words from 2004).

Whatever term you want to use for an easy natural wine (or something on the natty spectrum), the wine still HAS to be interesting, have a second and maybe third level, and offer some sense of grace, even quirk.

It can't just approximate the grape's essence while not tasting like butt, particularly since glou-glou is going for upwards of $40 a bottle of late. I'm looking at you, Broc.

That's not really a slight on Broc Cellars. We've drunk and enjoyed the vast majority of their wines. But $40 for a picpoul, a Broc wine we've loved in the past, it runs against the nature of what picpoul is. It might be priced right for the economies of making it, but that doesn't take away the lament we felt when their wines went from "we have our bargain Cali-Natty deliciousness!" to "we simply can't afford this on a regular basis anymore." That's our economies, especially when many of Broc wines have pairing competition from Chinon, Portuguese baga, Beaujolais cru, Italian weird, Spanish juicy, and frankly anything off-region Frenchy. If you drink wine regularly, the $8-10-20 difference is hundreds of dollars over the course of the year.

On that note, here's one we can afford on a regular basis. It's from Sans Liege, the Paso-based winery that plays in Rhône-y grapes with dalliances elsewhere, like here. the 2018 Groundwork Picpoul Nouveau is carbonic picpoul blanc, with 10% picpoul gris for color. It's $18 at Vin on Elston, and the entire Groundwork line is $20 and under. With a delicate floral note weaving in and out of creamy berries and touch of bitter watermelon rind, the wine kept changing with each bite of the tuna Niçoise (potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, onions, parsley, olives, capers, A's do Mar oil-cured tuna...the usual - a delicious version).

This wine brings The Interest, approaches a third gear (but needs the right food to get there), transcends the sum of its parts, drinks like a four-season wine, and with this food it all tasted like a vacation lunch somewhere on a sun-drenched bay.

For $18.