Be careful what you wish for. With the heat and humidity of South Florida summer draped upon us like a rubber overcoat, lobster season cranking into gear, and stone crab season just around the calendar corner, what better time to swirl and slurp my way around a bunch of crisp, refreshing, moderately priced Sauvignon Blancs?

Uh, maybe later?

Sometimes the best-laid plans of mice, wine writers, and other vermin just go straight to hell, like when a judiciously chosen assortment of well-regarded, well-pedigreed wines -- Sauvignon Blancs, for example -- turns from the anticipated love-fest as a less-expensive, more satisfying, food-friendlier alternative to Chardonnay into a disappointing journey through bottles of bad wine, dirty wine, and mediocre wine.

Why? I have no clue. A Google search and a couple of phone calls yielded no reasons why 2007 and 2008 vintages in California, New Zealand, and South America should produce more than the usual number of crummy or odd-tasting Sauvignon Blancs, and I couldn’t find any evidence that any of the vintners whose products I tasted had fallen on particularly hard times, so maybe it was just the (bad) luck of the draw.

Better mine than yours, right?

True, there were a couple of bright spots. The 2008 Nobilo “Regional Collection” for one. It delivered everything you want in a New Zealand SB -- intense, palate-cleansing grapefruit-gooseberry flavors; bracing acidity; a clean, citrusy finish. Pouring it with crab or lobster or scallops or any rich fish would only make it taste better.

Another pleasant wine and a good deal at $8.99 is the 2008 Chateau Montet White Bordeaux. It fools you a little, with the kind of rich, fruity aromas more typical of California Sauvignon Blancs, but when you take a sip it’s got all the steely, lemony minerality that’s characteristic of its French compatriots.

Now we leave pretty good and go to okay.

Another French SB was the 2007 St. Martin, though hailing from the Languedoc rather than Bordeaux. It’s aromas -- green apple, smoke, a subtle floral note -- fooled you too. Fooled you into thinking it would be as interesting in your mouth as it was in your nose. Not bad, mind you, but merely a simple, serviceable French white whose chief attribute is its $7.99 price tag.

An Argentine SB, the 2008 Bodega Norton, showed promise too, with an initial burst of tangy lemon-lime and green apple fruit. Then an odd, soapy flavor began to show up, along with a faint bitterness at the back of the palate, as if some of the lemon-lime pith had made it into the bottle.

One more passable wine was much more of a disappointment, if only because of its history. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Kenwood Vineyards’ Sauvignon Blanc was the California benchmark for the varietal, consistently winning awards and winning converts away from Chardonnay. Now its taut, lively, grassy-herbal-citrusy character has been watered down to the point that it’s just another inoffensive but hardly compelling mass-market SB.

Wow, man. Bummer.

And speaking of bummers, let’s talk about a pair of Sauvignons from the Marlborough region of New Zealand, the 2008 Brancott and Cupcake. The Brancott, normally my go-to SB, had just gone bad and was completely undrinkable. The Cupcake -- swear to God -- tasted like dirt. Not dirty. A mouthful of dirt.

So I poured it down the drain and popped open a beer.

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