Here’s a fresh and fragrant white wine to pair with Thai spring rolls or an insalata Caprese topped with garden-fresh basil. Mostly aged in steel (75%), the 2020 Alto Adige Sauvignon Sanct Valentin is a snappy, lean-bodied wine with lemon zest, green papaya and tangy kiwi fruit. There are subtle mineral notes on the close, but this youthful wine remains fundamentally fruit-forward and primary in character.

Aged in mostly steel with a small part in tonneaux and botte grandi, the San Michele Appiano 2019 Alto Adige Sauvignon Sanct Valentin is a beautifully tonic and fragrant expression that presents its aromas with chiseled precision. Tropical fruit, star jasmine, citrus, honey and tomato leaf create a balanced ensemble. This wine is more than a pretty bouquet. Like the other whites in the Sanct Valentin series, this Sauvignon shows good texture and smoothness as well. These wines get better and better each year I taste them.

The 2018 Alto Adige Sauvignon Sanct Valentin is a careful and clever interpretation of this grape. The wine's aromatic impact is strong and lasting, yet it is never too zesty or pungent. In fact, you get softer Sauvignon Blanc tones of citrus and fragrant white peach but none of that tomato leaf aroma. The wine also successfully plays up its lean mouthfeel, giving you a tonic and bright mouthfeel that is not too thin or short. Those distinctive mineral tones of Alto Adige appear on the close.

The folks at San Michele Appiano (otherwise known as St. Michael Eppan in German) make some of the best Sauvignon Blanc you will find in Northern Italy. Their 2017 Alto Adige Sauvignon Sanct Valentin is a beautifully fresh and intense white wine that offers simplicity and informality as its most convincing attributes. Characteristic aromas of tropical and passion fruit show bold intensity in this warm vintage. You can count on that high-altitude mountain acidity to keep the wine light, crisp and fresh. Some 90% of the wine is fermented in stainless steel and aged on the fine lees until April following the harvest. That tiny remaining 10% quota is fermented and refined in oak. Bottle production is generous, with 140,000 units made.

Crisp and tonic, the 2016 Alto Adige Sauvignon Sanct Valentin is extra zesty and fresh on the inside. The wine opens to a clear and luminous appearance and it segues to the nose, with bright aromas of passion fruit, citrus, bitter almond and chopped mint. This wine stands firmly on its own two feet in terms of the clarity and intensity of its aromas. If you love Sauvignon Blanc, this is a pure and exuberant expression of the fragrant grape.