While this wine is crisp and clean, and the price is right, it’s a little thin in flavor. Suggests peaches, pears and citrus fruits that finish with a touch of honey. It’s okay for everyday food, especially Asia.

A lively sauvignon blanc with layered aromas and flavors. Notes of pear, melon and lime. Great minerality. Lingering finish.

There's a seemingly sweet edge to the lemon, lime and vanilla flavors, which are fortunately balanced with crisp acidity. Fans of richly styled white wines with like this bottling.

It says California on the label, but winemaker Matt Smith is more specific. It’s from cooler Lake County. It has a complex style, with lime, guava and mango, herbaceous tones and minerality. Ten percent is fermented in barrels and 20 percent in a reductive style to emphasize aromatics.

2011 Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Sauvignon Blanc, Calif.: rich and fruity, with myriad flavors from lemons to pineapples to pears to honey. Sure, it's mostly good old sauvignon blanc, and it might be easy to pooh-pooh the addition of tiny dollops like the 0.3 percent viognier. But I've seen winemakers do it, and I can attest that it can make a real difference in the flavor

This valued-priced sauvignon blanc includes a motley blend of semillon, pinot gris, riesling, chardonnay and viognier. It may not sport classic varietal flavors, but the assemblage makes for a nice aperitif.

The nice thing about many California sauvignons is their luscious textures, so soft and pillowy that they coax along food flavors instead of fight them.

When paired with seafood, zesty California Sauvignon Blanc acts a little like a spritz of lemon, which is especially nice with these fragrant grilled shrimp.

A lively sauvignon blanc, bright and citrusy. Notes of grapefruit, herbs and mineral with a hint of jalapeno. Creamy texture.

Light and crisp, with flavors of limes and minerals.

Slightly frontal and lightly and brightly fruity with suggestions of kiwi and grapefruit but little in the way of the grassy/weedy side of the variety, this slightly rounded, medium-bodied bottling has more than enough clean, firm charm to earn its spurs as a useful mate to baked chicken or lighter seafood dishes.

The coastal counties northwest of San Francisco Bay can produce some of the most balanced and flavorful Sauvignon Blanc in the Golden State. Kendall-Jackson's Grand Reserve offers a nose of grassy hay, fig, gooseberry and citrus, with notes of sweet pear and vanilla. Bright citrus and herb flavors refresh the palate for the next delectable oyster.

Fruit forward and authoritative. Yummy with a sweet smell.

What's most delightful about this widely available California Sauvignon Blanc is that it doesn't try to hide the herbal, grassy nature of the grape. It celebrates it, with Lake County fruit that delivers a pleasing, herbal-infused mix of melon, fig and pear flavors. It's full-bodied, broad-shouldered and beautifully balanced.

An inexpensive sauvignon blanc that should be easy to find is the 2007 Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve, a juicy, slightly grassy version of the varietal.

A refreshing wine with notes of fig, kiwi and grapefruit.

A citrusy sauvignon blanc that's a great value. Notes of stone fruit and spice, with a hint of grassiness. Balanced.

Kendall-Jackson Estate Vineyards pulls out all the stops, seeking richness and complexity using grapes from Lake, Mendocino and Sonoma counties, blending in small proportions of semillon, viognier and muscat canelli. A complex blend of ripe tropical fruit, from mangoes to oranges, with crisp white grapefruit.

Another good value in this category, the KJ sports simple pear, citrus and kiwi notes.

The 2006 Sauvignon Blanc is racy with grapefruit, lime and melon.

Few wines pair well with asparagus, but Sauvignon Blanc is an exception - the variety's grassy, herbal notes complement asparagus's strong flavor. Kendall-Jackson's 2006 Vintner's Reserve Sauvignon, with its fresh citrusy fruit, is a great partner for this springtime salad.

A great value with melon and citrus notes dashed with exotic flavors of figs and kiwi. Blended with semillon and sauvignon musque to give it a soft mouthfeel.

Aunt Ruby's Green Tomato Relish and Goat Cheese was paired with the 2005 Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Sauvignon Blanc. The fresh tomatillos, vinegar and basil in the the tomato relish helped focus and soften the wine's melon, citrus and mineral character, while the wine's acidity echoed that of the goat cheese.

Some sauvignon blancs bring to mind cool water tumbling over polished rocks, a rushing creek, a river as snow melts. Others, like our Wine of the Week, Kendall-Jackson 2005 Vintner's Reserve California Sauvignon Blanc, are all sunlight. This wine is crisp and bright, like a cloudless summer morning. Among the fruit aromas - mostly apple and sweet citrus - there is a whisper of freshly cut hay. It is an endearing quality and one that makes the wine an excellent afternoon sip or before-dinner aperitif.