I suspect that the TV personality and wine writer Oz Clarke either had tongue in cheek or foot in mouth with his recent claim that chardonnay’s recent decline was down to a lovelorn Bridget Jones bolstering her lack of self-esteem with yet another balloon glassful of the stuff. In fact whatever influence Helen Fielding’s creation may have had on chardonnay was undeniably positive, and if there’s been a three per cent decline in sales, as claimed by retail analysts TNS, the notion that the British public are so gullible as to be put off one of the world’s most popular wine styles by something as flimsy as a book and film anti-heroine is as fictional as Bridget herself.

It’s precisely because it can be so delicious that chardonnay has become a victim of its own success. Relatively simple to replicate outside its native habit of Burgundy, its popularity as a vinous Coca-Cola that any New World winemaking monkey can reproduce tolerably well may well have driven consumers in search of flavour into the arms of sauvignon blanc, viognier and riesling. Boring pinot grigio apart, that may be no bad thing, especially where the ABC (Anything but Chardonnay) movement has drawn our attention to the distinctive flavours of specialities like Spain’s albariño, Austria’s grüner veltliner, Italy’s fiano, South Africa’s chenin blanc, Argentina’s torrontés and Australia’s semillon.

It would be doing chardonnay a disservice though to overlook the fact that the grape of white burgundy is responsible for the greatest diversity of styles and range of qualities of any white wine variety. It can be crisp and unoaked as in chablis, oaked like meursault. It can be still as in white burgundy or sparkling as in champagne. It can be sublime or grotesque. It can be hand-crafted, complex and full-flavoured or stultifyingly dull when made in industrial quantities. Unfashionable as the wishful naysayers would like it to be, the reality is that chardonnay’s bad press has much to do with the fact that so much of it has become over-commoditised, over-branded and over-promoted as a me-too dry white wine designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator of taste.

France itself remains a hub of fine chardonnay, producing moreishly drinkable examples such as the 2006 Bourgogne, Louis Jadot, £9.99, Tesco, with its smoky vanillan oak aromas and richly fruited character or, as in the case of the 2006 Mâcon Uchizy from Domaine de La Artentière, £8.99, Marks and Spencer, a lipsmacking mouthful of a peachy ripe chardonnay with a citrusy acidity that refreshes the palate. From Domaine Brocard, the 2007 Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Chablis, Sainte Céline, £8.99, is classic chablis with a delicate butteriness and bone dry granny smith bite. Be prepared to pay more and a chardonnay such as the magnificent 2005 Puligny Montracher 1er cru Les Referts Domaine Jomain, £30, Majestic, will reward the senses with sumptuously concentrated rich fruitiness and a flinty quality that hits all the high notes.

Australia may be criticized for leading the commodity chardonnay charge but to illustrate that that’s by no means always the case, the stylish Asda Extra Special Adelaide Hills Chardonnay, £7.12, Asda, with its undertones of buttery fruitiness and cleansing acidity melts on the tongue like liquid vanilla fudge. Worth its weight in liquid gold, the stunning 2006 Stonier’s Mornington Peninsula Chardonnay, £102.55, case of 6, www.marksandspencer.com, is an elegant, textured style with subtle undertones of butterscotch richness and grapefruity intensity. Moving up the scale to one of Australia’s top chardonnays, the 2006 Pierro Chardonnay, Margaret River, £28.50, Jeroboams shops, displays a multi-faceted concentration and complexity of flavour from barrel-fermentation and lees stirring that, price apart, could easily be chassagne montrachet, only more opulent.

As one of the new battlegrounds for affordable, quality chardonnay, Chile is coming up with excellent wines such as the refreshing, modern, pineappley 2007 Winemaker’s Lot Chardonnay ‘Llanuras de Caramarico’, Limarí Valley, £7.99, or buy 2 = £6.39, Majestic, and the 2007 Errazuriz Wild Ferment Chardonnay, £9.99, Tesco, an intensely flavoured version with a textured oatmealy richness from the stirring of the lees in the barrel. New Zealand too, better known for its sauvignon, is also capable of producing delicious chardonnay with smoky, fudgey aromas and burgundy-style flavours like the 2007 Lone Range Heretaunga Chardonnay, £9.99, Marks and Spencer. As wines like these and many more illustrate, reports of the demise of chardonnay are greatly exaggerated.

Something For the Weekend 21 June

Under a Fiver

2007 Vin de Pays des Côtes de Gascogne, £4.99, Marks & Spencer

With its climate influenced by the Atlantic, the refreshingly zesty, tropical grapefruity characters and appley bite of this colombard and ugni blanc blend from the Plaimont Co-operative almost suggest Loire Valley sauvignon blanc.

Under a Tenner

2007 Gemtree Tigers Eye Shiraz, McLaren Vale, £9.99, Sainsbury’s

If you’re contemplating the barbie, and who isn’t at least contemplating it, this superior Aussie screwcapped shiraz from McLaren Vale with its smoky, paprika-like aromas, sumptuous black fruits flavours and spicy oak is a powerful enough red to handle the charriest of char grills. If it’s wet, make it an indoors summer warmer.

Splash Out

2005 Pirie Estate Pinot Noir, £16.99, buy 2 = £14.99, Majestic

Andrew ‘Mr Tasmania Pinot Noir’ Pirie has spent a lifetime honing the special qualities of Tasmanian pinot noir and it shows in this fragrantly aromatic red whose elegant fruit quality smacks of scented, just-picked fraises du bois and raspberries and the balanced, focused style that only the cool climate of Tasmania can bring to pinot noir.