I love Sauvignon Blanc from all places, so it should be no surprise that my attention has landed on yet another example of this varietal. New to our shelves, Salt River Sauvignon Blanc from stellar South African winemaker Duncan Savage is an exceptional example of the grape, and an ideal wine to take you into the summer months. Start with fruit sourced from high altitude vineyards on the western cape from growers with whom Savage has developed long term relationships. (He intentionally doesn’t own vineyards, as he’s learned that the generations-old family farmers’ knowledge and expertise of the granitic soils is priceless.) With elegance and purity as his goal, the grapes are picked on freshness – not ripeness, which means careful vineyard management and multiple passes during harvest to take fruit only at the right time. The result is a stunning Sauvignon Blanc that shows salinity, herbaceous tinges, every yellow fruit imaginable, and a flinty appeal which is clearly the fingerprints of his mentor, Loire Valley legend, Didier Dagueneau. Simply put, this is summer in a bottle. - Noelle Starr