Sit long enough at a restaurant bar waiting for your table, and you're sure to hear someone order "a glass of white wine, abc." That's shorthand for "anything but chardonnay" and is indicative of public fatigue with sweetish, low -acid, unattractively oaked versions of the popular varietal we've been subjected to. Chardonnay doesn't deserve the bad rap. It's the basis for some of the world's greatest wines. Let the opprobrium fall where it should: on the technicians who twist the noble grape into shapes unpalatable and occasionally bizarre.

The backlash against tarted-up chardonnay has been aggressive enough to generate a marketing response of its own. You'll now occasionally see "unoaked" -- or the latest trendy term "naked" -- on the label of certain New World chardonnays. It's a regular bare market.

As summer settles in, rather than subscribe to the abc club, we'll be turning to classic, beautifully made, stripped-to-the-basics chardonnay for the refreshing acidity and crisp orchard fruits we love. Nothing better with an undressed salad. -- STEPHEN MEUSE

Stephen Meuse can be reached at onwine@comcast.net.