Keeping Things Light with Sauvignon Blanc

If you aren't downing bowls of pasta and stew, then you might be trying to keep things light in the weeks leading up to the holidays.

Should fish, salads, and lots of vegetables feature in your upcoming menu plans, you will want to have some Sauvignon Blanc on hand. Sauvignon Blanc is a grape that can be used to make wines in any number of styles: from smoky and rich to round and melony to sharp and grassy. With fish and salads, I find that the sharper Sauvignon Blancs really bring out the clean tastes of the seafood and the fresh crispness of salads and vegetables.

Year in, year out, I turn to Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand when I want a sharp, grassy wine. And more often than not, the wine I reach for as my standby is the widely available, appealingly affordable Cupcake Vineyards bottling.

The most recent version is the 2010 Cupcake Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough. (suggested retail, $14; available in the market for $7-$12) This is another winning vintage, with tart gooseberry, lime, and cut grass aromas and flavors. The wine has plenty of fresh acidity, and a juicy, citrusy aftertaste that will bring almost any fish, chicken, or vegetable dish to life. Excellent QPR.

We tried it with a recipe in a recent Food & Wine Magazine: grilled shrimp salad with avocado-citrus salad. It was an outstanding combination, with the acidity of the wine playing off the rich avocado, the grassy notes pulling out the cilantro used in the recipe, and the lime and other citrus elements combining beautifully with the orange, lime, and tomatoes in the dish.

Full Disclosure: I received a sample of this wine for review.