A rich sauvignon blanc. Flavors of peach, tangelo, lime, pippin apple and gooseberry. It has a soft texture, but a crisp finish.

The melon-scented 2004 California Vintner's Reserve Sauvignon Blanc, at once brisk and packing plenty of fruit flavor.

Subdued rather than a big, grassy style. Lovely aromas and flavors of orange peel, baked bread, tangelo and pineapple.

lemon, lime and spicy fig flavors.

A classic, rounded California take on Sauvignon Blanc, with hints of lemon and melon and a bright finish.

Mainstream California style, with grapefruit and pineapple flavors but no grassiness.

juicy with loads of melon flavors and underlying citrus notes. It bridges the gap between a lean, grassy style of Sauvignon Blanc and an overly ripe, warm-weather Sauvignon. Either is ideal as a cocktail sipper or with broiled fish with a squeeze of lemon on top.

Although its loosely fruity, clean-as-can-be style commends it for warm-weather quaffing, there are few varietal specifics to this light-bodied wine.

This widely distributed California white wine gives you a lot of bang for the buck. Relatively full-bodied for a Sauvignon Blanc, it offers vibrant flavors of figs, melons, lemons, apples and minerals. It has a pleasant, smoky aroma and a touch of vanilla from judiciously used oak. There's a snappy bite to the flavor and feel--but not too much. ...a very smartly made wine.

This medium-bodied white deftly walks the middle ground between the herbaceous sauvignons of France and New Zealand and the rounder, oak-aged examples associated with California. Medium-bodied and lush, it serves up mounds of melon-and-pear-like fruit, with hints of fig, red apple and pineapple. The texture is soft, yet it finishes with good acidity to balance out the sweet fruit. This is a versatile sauvignon for sipping without food or throughout a meal centered around fish or chicken.

This has such cool-climate zing (and yes, that's even possible in California) it blasts the nose with intense aromas of lime, melon and kiwi, and then drills the palate with ripe, sweet fruit, offset by edgy acidity. It's sure to up your standing with any wine snob in the crowd.

Wash down clams or oysters with this ultra-crisp, high-acid white.

Widely available, the 2002 Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Sauvignon Blanc captures California ripeness. It's perfect for those who prefer Sauvignon Blancs with softer acidity and loads of melon flavor.

dry, medium-bodied, no oak, high acidity. A fruit salad of flavors, from tart pineapple to sweet melon and fresh pear, makes a fine supper sipper, especially at the price.

Apricot aroma; fresh on the palate; dry and clean.

Apricot Aroma; fresh on the palate; dry and clean.

If far from being the deeper and more involving Sauvignons Blancs of this issue, this friendly, balanced, clean-as-can-be wine delivers lots of direct, citrus- and ripe-melon fruitiness for the money. and it becomes an especially noteworthy buy when found at a typically discounted price.

Ripe melony and fig flavors, but with good cleansing acidity. Perfect aperitif or summer food wine.

Simple, varietal flavors dominate this pleasant, quaffable alternative to chardonnay. It is blended with semillon, viognier, pinot blanc and malvasia to give it broad dimension.

Simple, varietal flavors dominate this pleasant, quaffable alternative to chardonnay. It is blended with semillon, viognier, pinot blanc and malvasia to give it a broad dimension.

Smoky and caramelized, this has a burn to its alcohol, yet there's also a friskiness...

While hardly one to impress with complexity or any sense of depth, this direct, vaguely juicy, slightly sweet wine is the very picture of picnic quaffability. And at discount, it fills the bill for warm weather gulping.

This is a white blend of 10 grape varieties - nearly half is a combination of chardonnay and sauvignon blanc. It defies description as a result of that, but expect to find a melange of flavors. Melon, peach, grapefruit are among the flavors.