Wine: 'The way back is to put your trust in traditional producers'

Numerous commentators have charted what they see as chardonnay's transition from chic to chav but the received wisdom about the main culprit - oak - seeks, I suggest, to hang the wrong man.

As there are still many prejudices about Australian chardonnay, this scrutiny will concentrate on Chile - a country with sound chardonnay and a reputation for flexibility in adapting to wine fashions.

The first task is to see what happens if you eliminate oak altogether. Although some unoaked chardonnay is pretty insipid, I was hugely impressed by 2010 Anakena Chardonnay (5.49, Luvians, St Andrews and Cupar).

It has more mellow fruit than, for example, that famous unwooded chardonnay - chablis - with appealing melon and ripe pineapple flavours, a rich creamy texture and lively sherbet-based concluding acidity.

If you like your acidity a little fresher, try 2010 Finest San Antonio Valley Organic Chardonnay (two for 10 until 22 February, Tesco). Here, the wine is clean and crisp with peach as the lead flavour.

So far, the theory about oak holds up but 2004 Tabali Reserva Especial Chardonnay (9.75, WoodWinters, Edinburgh and Bridge of Allan) adds a different dimension.

This is a gold-coloured, complex wine with touches of green apple, orange and beautifully balanced vanilla. It has spent almost a year in French oak and the way everything integrates brilliantly shows just how well oak can enhance, rather than diminish, the wine.

If oak is perceived to be the problem, clearly its total elimination is not the solution.

The difficulty seems to lie in the excessive or clumsy use of it. But that can apply to numerous other components of the wine-making process and here we may be closing in on the problem. Volume producers of anything are prone to "industrialisation".

The way back is to put your trust in traditional producers who have long since learned that "one size fits … one". Happily this is happening across the chardonnay winemaking process - not just with oak - and around the world, including Australia.

Some people are using, for example, wild yeast. Others seek additional complexity and texture by using cool fermentation and developing the wine "sur lie" - leaving it in contact for a while with solids such as spent yeast and grape pulp. More radically, the geography has been reappraised and grapes sourced from cooler climates where they ripen more slowly.

Ripeness is another key factor. Unlike much dessert fruit, ripe is not necessarily best because character, zing and liveliness often require significant lumps of acidity.

The worst excesses of the naturally occurring malic acid (unacceptably tart, green apple flavours) can be lessened by converting it to lactic acid (creating softer, rounder and richer wine) through malolactic fermentation. Judgments about when to harvest and when to use malolactic conversion are, therefore, critical.Experienced producers (like Adolfo Hurtado of Cono Sur who makes the San Antonio Valley version) know how to keep all those elements in balance for inexpensive but sound chardonnay.

The sheer adaptability of chardonnay and its geographic flexibility have helped make it the world's most planted white wine grape variety.

It can deliver wine with a luscious richness that judicious oak ageing supplements with flavours of vanilla, spice and butter.

Equally, unoaked chardonnay brings a sharp, refreshing, straightforward wine. Both styles - and those in between - offer drinkers delightful wine and fully justify bringing chardonnay in from the cold or, at least, up from the cellar.

2010 Finest Ken Forrester Chenin Blanc Western Cape, South Africa, 13.5 per cent

Delightfully fresh with hints of honey and apple to underpin its rounded banana flavours. Two for 10 instead of 7.99 each until 22 Feb, Tesco

2009 De Bortoli Family Selection Shiraz Cabernet Riverina, Australia, 14 per cent

Plum flavours, minty vanilla and sweetish spice on the finish. 4.79 (as part of a mixed half dozen) or 5.99 each, Oddbins

Makana, Blanc de Blanc, Brut Stellenbosch, South Africa; 13 per cent

Gentle fizz, with touches of vanilla and clear lemon flavours. 8.99, Peter Green, Edinburgh

This article was first published in Scotland On Sunday, 06 February, 2011