Dry Whites

The following are some types of dry white wine for your consideration.

The Dry Ones

• Sauvignon Blanc

This crispy clean citrusy wine carries the banner for dry whites. It evokes tautness with a medium body that appeals with juicy fruit, herbal tones, mineral bits and bright acidity. It's broadly found worldwide but sparkles in France's Loire Valley and Bordeaux (where it's usually blended with Sémillon), New Zealand's Marlborough, Austria, South Africa, Washington and in most of California's wine regions.

• Albariño

This wine comes from Spain's northeastern Galicia. This area is noted for its seafood and their Albariño is a perfect match with its citrus and stone-fruit aromas and flavors combined with rejuvenating acidity and freshness. It's called Alvarinho in Portugal.

• Chardonnay

The best Chardonnays are the French Burgundy versions from Côte d'Or and Chablis. Here, they resonate with citrus and apple fruit together with flint and acidity. The Old World style goes lighter on the use of oak and maloactic fermentation that emboldens the New World style with oaky and vanilla flavors that distort the varietals true colors.

• Muscadet

From Loire Valley in the western part close to the Atlantic. It's a tangy sharp, light-bodied wine that is dry and goes exceptional with seafood.

The Medium-Dry Ones

• Pinot Blanc

This wine is prominent in Alsace, Germany, Austria and Italy. It is a dry to medium-dry white that compares to Chardonnay but is less complex.

• Pinot Grigio

The Italian version is here, there and everywhere. It's also known as Pinot Gris outside of Italy. Usually these are simple, light and crisp white wines that do not invoke serious contemplation but go well with similar simple foods. The best ones are from Alsace but Oregon Pinot Gris can also display a bit of drama.

• Viognier

This varietal is a principal white in the Condrieu region in the Northern Rhône. It is aromatic with citrus. It's gaining popularity among many winegrowers in California, especially those producing Rhône-style wines.

• Grüner Veltliner

This medium-dry white is Austria's speciality. It's dry and light with peaches and floral tones, spice and has a peppery finish. Wunderbar!

• Chenin Blanc

A good example are the Vouvray Demi-Sec wines from the Loire Valley, dry with aromatics.

• Gewürtztraminer

This is a well-traveled varietal found worldwide. However, it's noted mostly for its wines in Germany, Alsace, California, Oregon, New Zealand and other cooler clime places. Gewürtztraminers have a golden tinted liquid that is aromatic, shows lychee fruit flavors and spices. This white can also be found in late harvest wines that will hit the sweet button. Stick with the dry Alsace version or the German trocken (bone-dry) or halbtrocken (medium-dry) versions.

• Riesling

Okay, throw out your ideas of Blue Nun and think German and Alsace Rieslings. Riesling is one of the noble grapes that is light to medium-bodied with rich extracted stone-fruit, zinging acidity suffused with an air of delicacy. Rieslings range from dry to various sweetness levels. Avoid the German Trockenbeerenauslese (TB) unless you want to go sweet. Fine dry Rieslings can also be found in the New World wine regions as well.