3 | Wine | Sauvignon Blanc, $20 to $50

"Our 2012 Sauvignon Blanc shows lifted notes of elderfl ower, green lime zest, and stone fruit. The palate is ripe, fine and succulent, offering zesty ripe citrus fl avours coupled with an edge of minerality and sweet herbs. A small barrel ferment component gives balancing flesh to the wine’s crisp refreshing acidity. A classic wine from an outstanding season."

"It’s wonderfully fresh and aromatic, with bright scents of pink grapefruit, gooseberry, melon and green apple. On the palate, the wine is medium-bodied with rich, vibrant citrus (grapefruit and kiwi), honeydew melon, spice and mineral flavors balanced by excellent acidity and a long, refreshing, mineral/chalky finish reminiscent of a fine White Bordeaux. A superb apèritif wine, our 2011 Sauvignon Blanc is also wonderfully versatile with food, especially salads and lighter seafood, poultry and pasta dishes."

"Tasted from tank, into which it had been assembled just two weeks beforehand, the Morin 2011 Sancerre Vieilles Vignes – which will as usual be a cuvee solely for the U.S. market, and bottled unfiltered – brims with bright lime and grapefruit; apple and honeydew melon, offering a lovely balance between lees-enrichment and refreshing vivacity. There is a chalky sense of mineral impingement to the vibrantly zesty, invigorating, yet persistently succulent finish of this buoyant (incidentally, 12.7% alcohol) Sancerre that should drink well for the next 3-4 years if not beyond."

"Bracing, slightly raw aromas of lemon peel, grapefruit and pepper. Then surprisingly supple following the nose, with a dense, tactile lemony flavor intensified by sound acidity. Vibrant, very dry and delicate sauvignon blanc with excellent length."-Stephen Tanzer