2018 Frog's Leap Winery Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley (375 mL) Half-Bottle

The best Sauvignon Blanc wines are like laser beams of refreshment. Mouthwatering, thirst-quenching, with a citrusy edge that prepares your palate for that first bite of food. If there is any Napa Valley winery whose Sauvignon Blanc deliciously and consistently delivers this level of refreshment, it is Frog’s Leap. 

We can safely call it iconic, and even more safely, a cellar essential.

Frog’s Leap founder John Williams has been obsessed with crafting pure and refined Sauvignon Blanc since visiting France’s Loire Valley in the early 1980s. He returned to the United States with a farming philosophy he knew would give him the style of Sauvignon Blanc he desired, and he wasn’t going to let anyone sway him in his pursuit. His intensely aromatic 2018 Sauvignon Blanc’s scintillating focus and precision is a key marker of that style, complemented by notes of lemon pith, grapefruit peel, and minerality that, yes, “leap” out of the glass.

It didn’t take long for the wine world to notice. Shortly after Frog Leap’s founding in 1981, the New York Times quickly picked up the story of this young Napa Valley upstart, and soon New York’s epicenter of French gastronomy, La Grenouille, took an interest. Now, the Frog’s Leap Sauvignon Blanc graces the wine lists of hospitality mogul Danny Meyer’s top eateries, which include the likes of Gramercy Tavern and Union Square Cafe, both in New York City.

For a Sauvignon Blanc so at home on the tables of America’s top restaurants, it is equally at home poolside while the BBQ is heating up, or in front of the TV. With today’s special half-bottle offering, it’s the perfect way to quench your thirst with a Napa Valley icon before a segue into something red. However you choose to enjoy it, few wines are as rejuvenating as this one.

If there is one word that captures Williams’s approach to farming, it is harmony. Happy vines produce the best fruit, he believes, so great care must be taken not to disturb the delicate ecosystem that is the vineyard. This means farming organically and refusing to irrigate. The latter, Williams insists, is more environmentally responsible and yields more intensely concentrated grapes that produce wines with lower alcohol levels. He was called the “hippie farmer” for a while, but for him it was a badge of honor.

It may be a bit more work, but the result is a captivating must-have wine.