Pairings: Sauvignon blanc shines with spring rolls

Our Wine of the Week, Starborough 2016 New Zealand Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc ($17), is a long time personal favorite. Its burst of lemony citrus on first sip is a delight and the flavors that follow - lime, white grapefruit, not-quite-ripe kiwi and jalapeño - are equally appealing.

There’s a lovely foundation of minerality, evocative of both wet river rocks and wet concrete, a lean, taffeta-like crispness on the finish and invigorating acidity. This wine is as refreshing as a cold shower on a sweltering summer’s day.

You’ll enjoy the wine with all types of fish and shellfish, especially raw oysters and white flat fish, such as Petrale sole, Dover sole, flounder, and sand dabs. It’s excellent with our beloved Dungeness crab, too.

As spring unfolds, you’ll want to have it around to enjoy with zucchini, green beans, fresh favas, and sorrel, in both soups and salads. Simple sandwiches of fresh goat cheese and thinly sliced cucumbers.

It works well with roasted chicken, pork tenderloin, Thai green curries that are not too spicy and Asian noodle salads.

You can, if you like, even enjoy it with a rare steak; to do so, add a dollop of butter and very generous squeeze of lemon juice just before serving it.

Today’s recipes is also a long-time favorite. If you don’t have rice paper, bean thread noodles, or fish sauce on hand, you can now find them in most supermarkets and, of course, at such ethnic markets as Asia Mart ?on Guerneville Road in Santa Rosa.

Southeast Asian Salad Rolls with Shrimp, Mint and Cilantro

Makes 6 rolls

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1/2 pound fresh medium shrimp, preferably wild

1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded and cut into thin julienne (about ?2 inches long

11/2 cups shredded Iceberg or Romaine lettuce

3/4 cup fresh buckwheat shoots, pea shoots, or mung bean sprouts

1/2 cup fresh mint leaves

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

3 green onions, trimmed, cut in half lengthwise and into 5-inch lengths

11/2 ounces, approximately, bean thread (cellophane) noodles, ?softened in 2 cups boiling water and drained

6 round rice paper sheets

Several hours before serving the spring rolls, make the dipping sauce (recipe below).

Fill a small saucepan with half full with water, add salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the shrimp and cook until just opaque, about 90 seconds. Drain, peel, devein and cut in half lengthwise. Put on a small plate and set aside.

Put the cucumber, letuce, shoots or sprouts, mint, cilantro and green onions into individual bowls or in separate piles on a large cutting board.

Stretch the noodles out on a work surface, cut into 31/2 inch lengths and put in a bowl or on the cutting board.

Fill a large bowl with warm water. Arrange all the ingredients near a clean work surface.

Submerge one rice paper sheet in the warm water for a few seconds, until it is soft and pliable. Carefully lift it out and spread it flat on a work surface.

Put one-sixth of the noodles across the middle third of the rice paper. Top with lettuce, shoots or sprouts, mint, cilantro and one piece of onion. Top with shrimp.

To roll, fold the right and left sides of the rice paper in to make the sides straight. Next, roll the bottom third of the rice paper up and over the ingredients and then use your fingers to roll it into a tube about 11/2 inches in diameter.

Continue until you have made all six rolls. Enjoy right away or cover with a damp tea towel and chill for 30 minutes before serving, with the dipping sauce alongside.

Dipping Sauce

Makes about 2/3 cup

1/4 fresh jalapeño, without seeds, minced

8 tablespoons warm water

5 teaspoons sugar

1 clove garlic, minced

3 tablespoons fish sauce

5 teaspoons fresh lime juice (from about 2 limes)

2 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves, torn into pieces

Put the jalapeño into a small bowl, add the warm water and sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add garlic, fish sauce, lime juice and cilantro. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Michele Anna Jordan is the author of 24 books to date, including “The Good Cook’s Journal, A Food Lover’s Collection of Recipes and Memories.” Email her at michele@micheleannajordan.com