This is it: the crescendo of summer. Sungolds are on the verge of bursting open like fireworks in my garden. Every day, I’m hauling baskets full of cucumbers to the kitchen, ready for salads or the pickle jar. Eggplants the color of midnight are ready to grill.
     Summer is also peaking along the vacation corridors and beaches of France and Italy, where workers—even some winemakers—are taking some well-earned rest. Hopefully, you too are enjoying this home stretch of summer, whether by a mountain lake somewhere or on a beach. 
     Because these last few weeks of August are so sensory, filled with seaspray, freshly sliced tomatoes, the last bits of basil, the pine of the cabin before you close it for the season…I have chosen twelve wines that are, similarly, feasts for the senses—and pair well with so much of the last of summer’s bounty. 
     Sip on Elisa Sesti’s zesty and saline Sauvignon Blanc or Savary’s brisk, marine Petit Chablis as you tend to your clam bake, steam a pot of mussels, or sear a sea bass in a skillet. Turn to Corte Gardoni’s bright and peppery Bardolino or the Bretons’ lithe Bourgueil for your next picnic or pizza night al fresco. And drop Jean Foillard’s exuberant Beaujolais-Villages or Maxime-François Laurent’s luscious Côtes-du-Rhône in the ice bucket for a few minutes while you fire up the grill for your next burger, steak, or pork chop night. 
     These late-summer days and nights are some of the most memorable of the year, and the sensory impressions they make will be even deeper with a bottle or two of these beautiful wines on your table.