33 Stupendous Sauvignon Blancs

Our favorite best-in-class bottles for summer sipping

- Ray Isle

NOT LONG AGO, We sent out a survey to F&W readers and asked what their favorite white wine was. Generally, if you send out a poll with that question, the answers come in, the gears whir, and the vast machinery spits out an answer: Chardonnay. It's been the most popular white wine variety in the U.S. for decades. However, F&W readers-a far-sighted, original bunch to be sure-beg to differ. Your fave white grape? It's Sauvignon Blanc.

And why not? Sauvignon Blanc is zingy and fresh; it does the jitterbug while Chardonnay is doing the waltz. In some places, New Zealand particularly, it takes on notes of cut grass and bell peppers (loved by many, loathed by some); in other places, it's flinty and austere; elsewhere, it mellows into melon or mango notes. Always, it suggests citrus of one form or another-grapefruit, lemon, lime. It's rarely aged in oak (though it can be) and rarely rich in style (though it can be). Done well, it's got a kind of finger-snap zip that wakes up your palate, one reason that it's also so good as an aperitif.