Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Since choosing the right wine for a dish can be a maddening exercise, versatility is one of a wine's most important qualities. In moments of indecision, nine times out of 10 I'd go with a good Sancerre.

Chardonnay is terrible with salmon and trout. Gewurztraminer has too many herbal aromatics for most seafoods and light meats. Semillon can be too dry for anything but oysters. And viognier -- well, I'm never quite sure when to serve a viognier.

Good Sancerre, on the other hand, has the fruit most people love in a white wine, the acid to keep it bright and fresh, the minerals to give it complexity and the price to make it affordable.

Not only does good Sancerre go well with practically everything except red meats and blue cheeses, but because it's bracing and has plenty of flavor to perk up the palate, it also makes a terrific aperitif -- and not just with canapes and foie gras but with popcorn, chips and pretzels, too.

You may have noticed I keep using the word ``good'' before Sancerre. There is an awful lot of not very good Sancerre in this large appellation in France's Loire Valley, with about 2,600 hectares under cultivation.

As for other wines around the world made from Sancerre's grape, sauvignon blanc, I don't think that any other region -- not California, not Australia and certainly not New Zealand -- understands the need for a balance of florals, fruit and minerals that make sauvignon blanc more than a tropical thirst quencher.

Many Terroirs

The Sancerre region has many terroirs, but none gets enough sun to turn sauvignon blanc into fruit punch. The flintiest examples come from close to the town of Sancerre itself, where the soil contains a good deal of silex.

A bit west the wines tend to be more delicate, then even farther west bigger and richer. Not enough sun can make for grassy wines in weak vintages.

I sampled an array of Sancerres last week, first on their own, then with a variety of foods -- olives, cashews, Parmigiano- Reggiano cheese and roasted sea bass with an aioli and garlicky broccoli rabe. The Sancerres went with everything, yet I found amazing differences in flavor among the wines.

The least interesting was a Thomas-Labaille Chavignol ``Les Monts Damnes'' 2005 ($23), which had almost no color, a small, tight nose and a watery flavor with only a bare hint of minerality in the finish. It was just too delicate to get excited about.

Somewhat bigger-bodied was a Fournier Pere & Fils Grande Cuvee Vieilles Vignes 2004 ($19), a pretty green-gold wine that had a herbaceous bouquet with a pronounced flintiness but tame sauvignon blanc grassy notes. It was pleasant with lightweight foods but not particularly enticing as an aperitif.

Minerals, Fruit, Grass

Much more typical was a Roger et Didier Raimbault 2005 (a bargain at $17), a fine balance of minerals, fruit and grass, with good color.

Hardly typical but delicious (if pricy at $50) was a Francois Cotat Chavignol ``La Grande Cote'' 2003. Its pale straw color gives little hint of the pungent spice and floral notes in the nose or the creaminess of the fruit on the palate; the acids seem tamed by three years in the bottle. Tasting blind, I doubt I would have guessed it was a Sancerre, and I might have wondered whether it was sauvignon blanc at all.

My personal standard for good Sancerre comes from the producer Pascal Jolivet, who began making Sancerre and Pouilly- Fume only in 1987. The soil of his vineyards, near the towns of Bue, Verdigny and Sainte Gemme, offer an ideal mix of 50 percent limestone, 30 percent chalky clay and 20 percent flint, all of which are evident in his wines, along with abundant fruit and just the right vegetal notes to balance everything out. I've seen the splendid 2005 on sale for anywhere from $12 to $18 -- a very reasonable price.

By the way, if you do happen to be serving red meat or blue cheese, you can still pour Sancerre: Just get a red one, made from pinot noir. But that's a subject for another discussion.

(John Mariani writes on wine for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer on this story: John Mariani at john@johnmariani.com.

Last Updated: January 22, 2007 00:04 EST