By AINSLEY THOMSON
Stroll into any of London's plush restaurants and you may hear one of the stylish set ask the waiter for ABC.
What the sophisticate wants is "anything but chardonnay" - or ABC for those in the know.
Why do they not want to drink chardonnay? Apparently New Zealand's most widely planted grape variety is a bit passe.
One wine lovers' website described the variety as typically so over-oaked that it tastes like a vanilla cigar, after you have smoked it.
The wine elite dismiss chardonnay as "frankly boring".
Hence the ABC club, an unofficial group with a growing membership and a message that is spreading.
Chardonnay is New Zealand's second-largest wine export after sauvignon blanc, making up a sizeable chunk of the $230 million export industry.
So should New Zealand be concerned about chardonnay's dwindling popularity?
Absolutely not, says New Zealand Winegrowers' chief executive Philip Gregan.
Chardonnay has been popular internationally over the past two decades, he says, and the ABC club is just a group of people wanting to try something different.
In a recent edition of the Economist, even former British Prime Minister John Major claimed he was "ABC".
But the antipathy towards chardonnay is not restricted to Britain - the Tokyo wine society holds ABC tastings.
The ABC club is also well-established in the US. American food writer David Rosengarten has written that it has a burgeoning membership.
While the term is not commonly heard in New Zealand, Mr Gregan says there would be people here who share the ABC view.
He says the dissent has not had any effect on New Zealand's export sales of chardonnay and could even have a positive impact.
"If it encourages people to try other varieties of grapes then that's fantastic."
Wine expert Vic Williams says he has heard the term ABC mentioned in New Zealand, but it is not a threat.
He says the movement is a reaction to chardonnay being the white wine everyone asks for, which means it is sometimes seen as the easy option.
"I don't think there would be any really serious wine enthusiast who would say blanketly 'I won't drink chardonnay', but certainly a lot of people are trying other varieties."
Rosengarten agrees.
"We don't mean it literally - there are some great chardonnays out there - but we do mean that we are constantly on the prowl for wines with less hype, lower alcohol and better value than chardonnay."
What does he recommend? A bottle of Vinho Verde from Portugal.
If this proves too difficult to find, sauvignon blanc, riesling or pinot gris are good candidates.
Chardonnay-sayers turn noses up at NZ's bedrock variety
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