The Corkscrew | Everything you need to know about chardonnay, top white wine grape

Chardonnay is the world's most recognisable white-wine grape and, despite the current popularity of sauvignon blanc, it's still the most widely drunk white wine. In the United States, it amounts to 15 per cent of all wines consumed, surpassed only by cabernet sauvignon, which accounts for 16 per cent.

Chardonnay is an immensely malleable grape that shows many flavour profiles - a reflection of where the vines are planted and the talents of the winemaker, who nurtures it from vineyard to bottle. There's a style to suit every palate.

Having been fortunate enough to get five bottles of chardonnay made by the same winemaker, but in different styles, some friends and I held a tasting.

this chardonnay was a pale straw colour with zesty acidity - lots of citrus and green apple with a bit of wet stone, which is a sign that it was made without oak. The best examples of this style are from Chablis and Petit Chablis, where the wines are usually vinified in stainless-steel tanks. A delicious aperitif wine, it goes well with oysters, as well as any other type of shellfish that is simply prepared. Other great examples can be found in Friuli, Italy; Willamette Valley, in Oregon, in the United States; and Yarra Valley, in Australia. This is a recent trend in Australia, where there are a number of winemakers who label their chardonnays "unoaked", to show consumers that it is a distinct style of wine.

a chardonnay with a bit of buttery character is one that has gone through malolactic fermentation. What's that? It is a secondary fermentation using a healthy bacteria called Lactobacillus (also found in milk, butter, cheese and yogurt), which converts the naturally occurring malic acids (think Granny Smith apples) in the wine to a softer lactic acid. This gives the chardonnay a buttery richness, which (to use geeky winespeak) is a diacetyl derivative of lactic acid. Another good description for this style of wine is "creamy". Where is it made? Look for bottles from Pouilly-Fuisse in Burgundy, France, Sonoma, in California, and Tasmania, in Australia. These wines are generally produced in stainless-steel tanks.