I get such a kick out of dinner parties. I always bring several kinds of wine, never two or three bottles of the same thing. It's just plain fun to share different wines with friends, exploring varietals, regions and styles.

Recently, I was lucky enough to get an invitation from Lois and Dave Zuckerman, who told me they'd be grilling fish at their home in Creve Coeur. Lois is a fan of Sauvignon Blanc, so the party seemed like a great time to try wines made from that varietal but grown in different places.

I visited Grapevine Wines, 309 South Kirkwood Road in Kirkwood, and bought three Sauvignon Blancs, one each from France, New Zealand and Chile.

Sauvignon Blanc originates in the Bordeaux region of France. The name comes from the French words 'sauvage" (wild) and "blanc" (white), due to its origins as an indigenous grape in the Loire Valley and Bordeaux. Today, the grape is grown in many parts of the world. Wines made from Sauvignon Blanc can differ so greatly in taste and style that they have inspired a wide range of colorful descriptions, including "cat pee," which oddly enough is considered a good thing, as well as herbaceous, grassy, minerally, citrusy and tropical.

Sauvignon Blanc is used to make beautiful, dry, crisp whites from Sancerre in the Loire Valley, and it is blended with Sémillon to make some of the world's top sweet wines, from Sauternes and Barsac in Bordeaux.

Because Sauvignon Blanc originates in Bordeaux, I started our tasting with a 2009 Chateau Lamothe de Haux from that region. The wine was priced at $15.99. Along with Sémillon and Muscadelle, Sauvignon Blanc is one of the white grapes allowed in the production of white Bordeaux wines. The Chateau Lamothe is made from 40 percent Sauvignon Blanc, 40 percent Sémillon and 20 percent Muscadelle, a blend based on ancient tradition.

Tradition is something this winery knows a lot about. The Chateau Lamothe estate has been in existence since the 16th century, and the winery still uses the cavernous underground rooms that were excavated in the 17th and 18th centuries. The caves, ranging up to almost 200 feet deep, are ideal for storing and aging wine.

This was a lovely, elegant wine with an inviting aromatic nose. The addition of Sémillon and Muscadelle gives the wine a soft fruitiness that's just right. This is a smooth, crisp, clean but complex white that makes a wonderful aperitif served with goat cheese and is a terrific pair with salmon or seafood.

Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand are generally bolder and known for their grassy, herbaceous and grapefruit flavors. Although vines were planted in New Zealand in the 1870s, it wasn't until 1973 that the country's most important wine-growing region, Marlborough, got its first big boost. That's when Montana, New Zealand's largest winery, planted vines at its Brancott Estate. Marlborough is located around Cloudy Bay on the north end of South Island.

While other wineries were slow to grow, the region began to take off in the 1980s and 1990s, thanks to Sauvignon Blanc, which won Marlborough worldwide fame and its continuing following.

For this tasting, I chose the 2009 Manu, priced at $12.49, from the Marlborough region. Manu is the Maori word for both bird and kite, and the Manu logo is an interpretation of a beautifully crafted Maori kite.

It's always interesting to hear different reactions to New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs. Fans love the combination of distinctive flavors, while others find the taste too overpowering.

"It has an incredible nose," said Lois, who enjoyed the wine. "There's such a perfume to it."

Her husband had a different reaction. "It's too sharp," he said.

I was somewhere in between. The Manu was more restrained than some New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs I've had. It had a nicely balanced bouquet of citrus, herbs and tropical fruit that was quite tasty. However, it was better with food than alone. This is a flavorful wine with a zesty acidity and a clean, crisp fairly long finish. It went well with the mango salsa that Lois used to top the salmon, and with the chile, lime and Parmesan rub she used on the grilled corn-on-the-cob.

Our third wine was the 2009 Santa Ema Sauvignon Blanc from Chile's Maipo Valley, priced at $8.99. Maipo is Chile's oldest and most famous wine-growing area. It's a subregion within the Central Valley and lies just south of Santiago. The Santa Ema Sauvignon Blanc has been getting well-deserved praise in the wine press as a quality budget wine. For example, it received 91 points from Wine & Spirits.

Viña Santa Ema, which began exporting wines in 1986 with its first shipments to Brazil, is now one of the top 10 selling Chilean wines in the United States.

The Santa Ema, which was Dave's favorite of the tasting, is a soft, round Sauvignon Blanc that's fresh and fruity. It's a well-balanced wine with fragrant, herbaceous notes. It ends with a refreshing, crisp, citrus finish. It was a great match with our goat cheese appetizer and salmon entree. It would also be terrific with shellfish and ceviches.