With Labor Day past, the fashion-conscious have mothballed their white accessories, but the wine-conscious recognize that much warm weather remains before they turn from the whites and pinks of summer to the reds of fall.

I think it's a safe prediction that we'll still have many evenings when chardonnay, pinot grigio, viognier and riesling will be more fitting for the table than cabernet sauvignon, zinfandel and syrah.

And among those fitting whites, don't overlook sauvignon blanc. In the cellar, it's the escape key, the wine to pick when nothing else will seem to work. That isn't to suggest that sauvignon blanc is a wine to savor only out of a sense of desperation. But when the menu includes dishes that are too light for a blustery chardonnay but too spunky for a shy pinot grigio, a taut, balanced and refreshing sauvignon blanc can come to the rescue.

Yet sauvignon blanc is taken for granted for a wide range of reasons. It doesn't arrive at the table with the gilded trappings of historic nobility, like chardonnay and riesling. It isn't generating the buzz of such newly fashionable varietals as torrontes and albariño. It can be controversial because it's made in so many styles and because it can be so unpredictably aggressive, like jalapeño chili peppers, with which it is sometimes compared. And there's so much of it, with bottles easily found from France, Australia and Chile as well as the United States, where's a person to start winnowing away at such a broad field?

Earlier this summer, wine columnist Eric Asimov of the New York Times took a crack at sauvignon blancs specifically from Northern California. His tasting panel came away disappointed. The assembled group, wrote Asimov, was hampered by "a distinct absence of excitement." "Too many lacked freshness and vibrancy," he wrote. "Others seemed disjointed or unbalanced or simply lacked harmony."

I've been on panels that have judged sauvignon blanc at wine competitions this year and can relate to what he said. Many sauvignon blancs lacked that cutting edge that makes the varietal so lively and provocative when the grapes are grown affectionately and manipulated adroitly. Many were pleasant, but at the table they wouldn't interrupt conversation about the Giants.

Nevertheless, tastings of sauvignon blanc continue to yield examples that really do generate excitement. Asimov and his panel came up with 10 to recommend from a selection of 13. "Northern California," by the group's definition, apparently is limited to Napa and Sonoma: Six of the top 10 were from Napa, three were from Sonoma, and one was from both Napa and Sonoma. The most expensive was $43, the least $17.

The next time the New York Times wants to catch up with what is happening with sauvignon blanc in Northern California, I suggest it broaden its definition of the territory to include the Sacramento/ San Joaquin River Delta, the Sierra foothills, Lake County and Livermore. Asimov's panel just might find a sauvignon blanc to like at a more attractive price.

I know I did at the El Dorado County Fair commercial wine competition. It's the Montevina Winery 2010 California Sauvignon Blanc, which after a day of blind tasting turned out to be the wine ultimately voted the sweepstakes wine, a remarkable achievement in an area celebrated primarily for its lusty red wines.

The Montevina, however, gathered votes largely on the strength of those merits that the New York Times tasting panel found so lacking in the sauvignon blancs it sampled.

The Montevina is simply an exceptionally zesty interpretation of sauvignon blanc, fresh with sweet fruit flavors running to grapefruit and lime, and vibrant with the sort of sharp and refreshing acidity that explains why the varietal is so popular with seafood dishes, especially shellfish.

This kind of plucky and persistent sauvignon blanc, with tangy and spicy fruit, typically is associated stylistically with New Zealand. It's a style that several California winemakers are emulating successfully.

One of them is Chris Leamy, the winemaker for Terra d'Oro Winery in Amador County's Shenandoah Valley. "Montevina" was Terra d'Oro's original name, and it remains a brand for inexpensive varietals generally made with fruit from throughout California.

Half the fruit in Montevina's 2010 sauvignon blanc, for one, was grown at the Circle K Ranch in Lodi. Around 40 percent came from Lake County, with the balance from Monterey County.

Lodi isn't particularly recognized for sauvignon blanc, but cooler-climate Lake and Monterey counties yield interpretations of the varietal with just the kind of acidic spine that makes the Montevina so vital.

Leamy especially likes what the Lake County grapes bring to the wine – "brightness and minerality" – and he's hoping he can get more of the area's fruit this harvest.

"It's a varietally driven wine. You know right away what you are in for," Leamy says.

The wine, totally sauvignon blanc, was fermented entirely in stainless steel, with no exposure to oak at all. It also didn't go through malolactic fermentation, a step to soften its acidity; Leamy wanted to keep it brisk and sharp.

The wine wasn't fermented entirely dry. He retained .54 percent of residual sugar, which heightens its fruitiness but doesn't leave it tasting overly sweet.

Montevina Winery

2010 California Sauvignon Blanc

By the numbers: 13.5 percent alcohol, 8,000 cases, $10 a bottle

Context: In addition to shellfish, Leamy has found the sauvignon blanc a splendid companion with all sorts of salads, which often can be tricky to pair with wine. "It has so much acidity and is so bright that it cleans the palate nicely," he says.

Availability: The wine is distributed widely in the Sacramento area, and can be found at several supermarket chains.

Information: The tasting room at Terra d'Oro Winery, 20680 Shenandoah School Road, Plymouth, is open 10 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. daily.

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Longtime wine critic and competition judge Mike Dunne continues his relationship with The Bee as a contributing columnist to the Food & Wine section. His wine selections are based solely on tastings, judging at competitions, and visits to wine regions. Check out his blog at www.ayearinwine.com, and reach him at mikedunne@winegigs.com.

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