A crisp Fumé Blanc – For the down slope of summer

This time of year especially, I make it my life’s work to sample as many different drinkable non-Chardonnay white wines as possible. It’s not that I don’t end up with a red as the evening progresses; but, to me, the weather and the mood scream for clean whites to start off the night.

One of my favorites is the popular Dry Creek 2012 Fumé Blanc, which is about as crisp a wine as you can find.
Fermented in stainless steel, it’s flinty with subtle citrus notes—far from the grapefruit explosion common in many New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs today.

Fumé Blanc is another name for Sauvignon Blanc. California winemaker Robert Mondavi manufactured the name in the 1960s when he wanted to make a Sauvignon Blanc like the dry, acidic ones produced in the Loire Valley when California was making subpar, too sweet Sauvignon Blancs. He thought a different name might give him a chance to convince wine lovers to branch out, and it worked.

There are a number of good Sauvignon Blancs coming out of California today, but a few wineries, including Dry Creek, still use the name Fumé Blanc, which Mondavi coined by reversing Blanc Fumé, a term used for Sauvignon Blanc in the central Loire region.

Try this wine with vinaigrette salads, soft-shell crab, pad Thai and, when they come back in season, oysters.
About $12.