Grass, sagebrush and herbs. Slate, wet stones and mouth-puckering citrus. Mango, kiwi and ruby-red grapefruit. Flavorless viscosity, like vodka without the fun.

Those descriptions all apply to sauvignon blanc made in America, and they reflect the grape's identity crisis in this country. Buying American sauvignon blanc is still a hit-or-miss affair, but the good news is that an attractive style has emerged in the past several years that's delicious, food-friendly and generally not expensive.

Sauvignon blanc is a versatile grape. In the Loire Valley of northern France, it seems to carry a glint of limestone and steely structure in the wines of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume and a whiff of meadow grass in the exuberant, inexpensive wines of Touraine. In New Zealand, it can be aggressively grassy and vegetal.

In California, sauvignon blanc often tastes of . . . well, not much. Two decades ago, most wineries followed their chardonnay recipe of barrel fermentation and aging and managed to strip sauvignon blanc of much of its character. When New Zealand's wines became all the rage in the mid-1990s, the trend swung back toward grassiness.

The flavor profile that is emerging today -- the distinctly American style of sauvignon blanc -- features tropical flavors of mango, passion fruit, kiwi and guava, often with a note of ruby-red grapefruit. Mason Cellars and St. Supery in Napa Valley have been leading exponents.

And they're winning converts. Dry Creek Vineyard consistently has produced one of California's best-value whites with its Sonoma County Fume Blanc, combining the slightly grassy character of the Loire with California ripeness and exuberance.

But with the release of its 2008 Sauvignon Blanc in June, the winery is tacking toward the tropical flavor profile with its flagship wine. The 2008 comes entirely from the warmer vineyards of the Dry Creek Valley, while previous vintages, labeled Sonoma County, came primarily from the cooler Russian River Valley. The extra ripeness adds to the tropical flavors and tames the grassiness.

The winery is also phasing out the use of ''fume blanc,'' a name for sauvignon blanc coined by legendary Napa winemaker Robert Mondavi in the late 1960s.

''The new generation of wine drinkers, sommeliers, wine buyers and consumers doesn't understand fume blanc,'' said Kim Stare Wallace, vice president of Dry Creek Vineyard. ``It's their father's Oldsmobile.''

TASTING NOTES

• Mason Cellars Sauvignon Blanc 2006, Napa Valley, Calif.: Lovely and elegant in the new tropical-fruit style, with nice depth and complexity; $18.

• Eliseo Silva Sauvignon Blanc 2006, Columbia Valley, Wash.: Delightful in the new tropical style, with enticing mango, melon and star fruit flavors. Sustainably farmed; $15.

• Glen Manor Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc 2008, Virginia: Fresh, grassy and herbal in the aroma, with lots of quince, apple and grapefruit flavors and impressive length. A gorgeous wine; $22.

• Dry Creek Vineyard Fume Blanc 2007, Sonoma County, Calif.: Classic sauvignon blanc, with grassy edginess that hints of the Loire Valley combined with California ripeness and style; $15.

• Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc 2007, Sonoma County, Calif.: A sauvignon blanc for piña colada lovers, with in-your-face tropical flavors, especially coconut; $17.

• Honig Sauvignon Blanc 2007, Napa Valley: A more traditional Napa style, with fig, date and quince flavors -- and dare I say a touch of honey? Sustainably farmed; $17.

• St. Supery Sauvignon Blanc 2007, Napa Valley: Mango, passion fruit and pineapple flavors, with bracing acidity and a dry finish. Sustainably farmed; $20.

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