One of the pleasures of today's wine world is the ability to walk into a store and choose a varietal from nearly anywhere in the world. Sauvignon Blanc is one of the world's top international white grapes, and increasingly, is made in places where there had not been a history of that grape before.

South Africa is considered the "new world," as the winemaking culture only goes back 400 hundred years. In this country, they do not appear to be as aggressive marketing their wines as Australia or New Zealand, yet the country produces some fabulous wine, wine with a different flavor profile than anywhere else.

Simonsig "Sunbird" Sauvignon Blanc is a good example of a wine that is just off-center enough from the typical SB profile to be intriguing for its difference. At once on the nose you get this intense burst of ripe, concentrated yellow fruit such as peaches, and a curious note of both wood and herbs. On the palate, more ripe-yellow fleshed fruit and a hint of pineapple and minerals, along with green bell pepper, with a brown butter note on the longish finish.

Simonsig is situated just north of Stellenbosch in the foothills of the majestic Simonberg Mountains. The farm has 205 hectares under vine planted in mostly shale soils (sandstone and granite are also present) with good water retaining capacity. With this vintage, very cool conditions in the early part of the season were ideal for flavor formation.

In January temperatures rose significantly, causing ripening to increase rapidly. Limited skin contact was done on some batches to maximize fruit without losing acidity. Simonsig was so intent on keeping as much fruit as possible in the wine they inoculated the juice with a South African yeast strain and fermentation took place at low temperatures to increase the fruit ester intensity.

The light tannin in the wine is actually the result of the wine kept on the lees as long as possible. The lees aging gives the wine the sort of body and substance that would make it an excellent choice for more substantial meal courses such as grilled Dorade (Mediterranean Sea Bream), even stuffed with a strong herb such as Oregano.

If you've been through Wine 101, you probably already know that many of the wineries in South Africa were started by Huguenots fleeing France for religious freedom in 1688. Among them was Jacques Malan, who built the farm where Simonsig now stands at the foot of the gorgeous, picture postcard Simonberg Mountains. One of the major changes from Malan's time is the use of science in winemaking, especially in South Africa. Attention is paid to site and clonal selection, and canopy management (arranging the leafs so that the grapes get the sunlight they need).

If you have red-wine loving friends who would never dare even try a white, this might be the wine to help them bridge the gap. The $13.99 price and its exotic provenance render this a wine to try now.