Growers open up to variety known as the oyster's friend

The French have enjoyed slurping oysters with a crisp white wine called Picpoul de Pinet for hundreds of years. So oyster grower Steve Feletti was surprised it wasn't available in Australia.

''It was a perfect sensory match,'' said Mr Feletti, of the Moonlight Flat Oyster Company. ''I was first offered the wine while eating oysters in the Mediterranean village of Bouzigues in 2008.

''Picpoul is known as the default wine for oysters.''

Thanks to his lobbying, there are now three importers. The first commercial quantity of picpoul blanc grapevines will be planted by Windowrie Wines in Cowra in August.

Picpoul blanc is the latest in a string of exotic grape varieties being planted in Australia. Most of the recent imports are from Italy, including aglianico from Campania and vermentino from Sardinia.

Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show chairwoman Jane Faulkner said there was ''huge potential'' for the foreign grapes, such as the Sicilian nero d'avola variety, because they could retain acidity in warm weather.

''They have potential because of their suitability to our warm, dry, climate, given global warming and sustainability issues,'' she said. ''Plus they make for delicious drinking.''

Petrina O'Dea, from Windowrie Wines, hopes the planting of one to two hectares of the picpoul blanc this year will yield up to 3000 litres in 2015.

''Because it comes from the Mediterranean areas, picpoul is drought and disease tolerant, a robust vine,'' she said. ''It thrives in hot, dry summers and in cool, wet winters, which thankfully works well in Cowra.''

At least 10 seafood restaurants have asked to stock the first bottles of the new oyster-friendly wine.

The sommelier from the Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay in Glebe, Christophe Dubois, said chablis and champagne were the most popular drops to pair with oysters.

''Picpoul is similar to chablis but a bit heavier,'' he said. ''They both work structurally, they're very dry and have a lovely weight at the end.''