In 2019, mountain sports enthusiast Mickaël Olivon settled in the remote Hautes-Alpes region to pursue his other passion, wine. He recovered some of France’s highest vineyards, perched at 3,000 feet elevation beneath some of the tallest summits in the Alps, and got to work producing unlikely field blends such as this white featuring Marsanne, Jacquère, Altesse, Müller Thurgau, and Chasan. It doesn’t taste like anything we’ve ever imported before, so I like to open it to stump my guests, confuse sommeliers, and ultimately savor a cool glass of something delicious and unusual.

Who would have thought that a tragic natural disaster could one day lead to such delight? Grown on a literal pile of limestone rubble from a catastrophic landslide in the year 1248, Les Abymes is the epitome of an Alpine white—an invigorating mineral lick of Jacquère, crackling with freshness and crystalline purity. Thanks to low alcohol and one of the crispest finishes you’ll experience, quaffing a bottle offers a carefree gaiety that belies the vineyard’s somber origins.

The Loire Valley may be the epicenter of elegant, cool-climate Sauvignon Blanc, but it is not the only place this grape can reach stunning heights. Along the steep slopes of the Dolomites, in northeastern Italy’s Alto Adige region, Peter Dipoli produces such a distinctive and mesmerizing version of this well-known variety that, when you take one sip, you’ll never look at Sauvignon Blanc the same. His “Voglar” tastes, at most, like a distant cousin to Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, and the other Loire blancs that have come to define the grape. 
     Several decades ago, after extensive research, Peter discovered that his family’s stunningly beautiful, high-elevation, and limestone-rich land near Bolzano paradoxically offered a few key conditions similar to those of the Loire Valley, and would therefore be ideally suited to cool-climate Sauvignon. “Alto Adige has an alpine climate with Mediterranean influence,” he recently told me, “and to get close to the continental climate of Loire, you have to climb to more than 450 meters. This permits for a later harvest without losing acidity.” This long and even ripening allows often-hidden flavors like ginger and sage to emerge and also results in an incredible balance between succulence and the zesty and mouth-watering liveliness that makes Sauvignon Blanc so refreshing and food-friendly. Peter ages the wine in large acacia botti, which lends the perfect finishing touch, imbuing this bianco with even more texture and depth. In rare, exceptional vintages like the just-released 2019, Peter extends the aging process, waiting as long as he needs to until the wine is ready, underscoring his complete devotion to world-class Sauvignon Blanc. How many other producers of white wine do this?
     At once luscious and vibrant, Voglar is not only one of Italy’s most sublime Sauvignon Blancs, but one of the country’s—and Europe’s—great white wines.