Hello and welcome to my weekly dig through the pile of wine samples that show up on my doorstep, asking to be tasted. I’m pleased to bring you the latest installment of Vinography Unboxed, where I highlight some of the better bottles that have arrived recently.

This past week included a zippy Picpoul Blanc from the San Simeon Estate brand run by the folks at Riboli Vineyards. Picpoul Blanc is fairly common in the southern Rhône Valley as well as in Southwest France, but you don’t see it much here in California. Taste this one, and you’ll wonder why that is. It’s a lot of fun to drink and lives up to the literal translation of “lip stinger” in a great way.

If most people haven’t tasted Picpoul Blanc, even fewer have probably tasted the grape known as La Crescent unless they have spent a lot of time in Midwest and Northeast winegrowing regions. Developed only in 2002 as a complex hybrid of a number of different grape varieties, it deals well with the chilly and wet conditions in New York’s Champlain Valley, where Rolling Hills Estate turns it into a pretty and drinkable white wine.