Picpoul - Grape Variety

Picpoul is one of the authorized 13 varieties in Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines. It is clearly an old grape variety as the earliest written reference to the black Picpoul version in the 14th century. However, nowadays, one can find black, white and even "grey" examples of this grape variety, all sharing the same DNA! To further confuse matters, the Spanish red grape Picapoll is the same as the French Picpoul, but Picapoll Blanco is altogether separate from the French white Picpoul (or Piquepoul)... The most famous example is of course Picpoul de Pinet wines from the Languedoc region of France.