Top South American Chardonnay under £20

Beautifully judged Chardonnay with real energy and focus. Excellent fruit quality and freshness allied to a well-integrated, praline and creamy-textured generosity. The oak is deftly integrated and the quality of both the vineyard site and winemaking expertise is evident.

Great value. Even though it’s oaked, this is a style more reminiscent of Chablis on speed, majoring on vibrant, crisp, crunchy citrus and green-apple fruit. Wonderfully harmonious and persistent with an attractive leesy texture and stony quality. Really cultured and classy.

The 2018 vintage was one of the coolest ever recorded in this vineyard, and the results, up to and including the top brand, Pizarras, are impressive. The focus on terroir, elegance and energy is commendable, and this wine is a beautifully poised expression of Chardonnay’s apple freshness with creamy texture. There’s an underlying minerality here that offsets the vibrant acidity and savoury depths to electric effect.

Errazuriz is doing an outstanding job with Chardonnay and is now undoubtedly a leading name on the world stage. This is a style that wears its oak on its sleeve but in a stylish way, with toasted-nut and clotted-cream aromas leading into a complex but refreshing palate and an energetic, revitalising finish.

Brimming with fresh curry-leaf and struck-match aromas, this is a wine with a very distinctive (‘reductive’) character. It’s well judged, though, and has just enough fruit weight to balance the toasty, savoury overlay. A food wine – put it with chicken and mushroom pie or a chunk of cheddar.

A generous, friendly Chardonnay that wraps your taste buds in an expansive bear hug of rich, golden flavours. Broad, creamy texture with flavours of toasted nuts and red apple. Effusive but stylish – lots of wine here.

An extroverted style that sees flavours of roasted nuts, butter and red apple cascade over your palate. It’s very much at the creamy and generous end of the spectrum, the bottle age accentuating this character, but the fresh acidity and LImarí minerality balance it out nicely. One for Chardonnay hedonists.

One of the best-value Chardonnays from Errazuriz, and the easiest to find in the UK (the 2017 vintage is also excellent). Lovely balance of savoury and fruity characters, with minerality and a creamy texture. Stylish, lively, food friendly.

Proper Chardonnay! Cultured in feel, good fresh acidity with lovely body, breadth and depth. A relatively full-bodied style in the context, somewhat heavy-handed on the finish but nonetheless very drinkable and rewarding. Chill it properly and serve it with hearty food.

Both fleshy and racy, this is a finely balanced Chardonnay with notes of clotted cream, lemon curd and fresh red apples. It’s a style that grows on you incrementally, with plenty to say for itself.

A gentle, unadorned rendition of Chardonnay, and very welcome for it. Crisp, fresh and upbeat – moreish and mouth-watering. An ideal aperitif or accompaniment for an oyster or two.

Viña Edén, as the name intimates, is a captivating place, from the striking architecture to the panoramic views out towards Punta del Este and the Atlantic coast. It’s a relative newcomer on the Uruguayan scene but already making waves with its carefully crafted wines, this one an understated but richly textured rendition with a hint of orange rind.

Smoky, rich and generous. Since launching its Maycas operation, Concha y Toro has been sourcing more and more Chardonnay from Limarí, and here’s why – the generous flavours are underscored by a fine balancing acidity and gentle earthiness and minerality. Toasty, peachy flavours and a touch of spice.

Takes a short while to get going in the glass, but when it does, it’s brimful of praline and tropical fruit with a wonderfully vibrant acidity and lifting spice on the finish. Grown at 1,150m altitude in Vista Flores (Uco).

There’s both a ponderous richness and bright energy to this wine that just about manage to co-exist. On the one hand is the leesy, lactic, creamy, biscuity breadth of the thing. On the other is the appley acidity and energetic, spicy character. Tame it with a mushroom risotto.

Okay, so it’s a bit old school (that whiff of popcorn is undeniable), but it’s also pretty winning. Generous flavours of clotted cream and buttered toast are matched by a lime-scented freshness underscoring it all. Rich but balanced.

The emphasis here is on freshness and upbeat, unalloyed fruit character. There’s a deft attention to detail in terms of the texture and stony hints, too. Flavours of fresh pears and peaches with hints of blanched nuts.

An understated style with a gently enticing nose of fresh peach, melon and a hint of curry leaf. Elegant balance of fruit freshness and savoury, creamy elements. Subtle and stylish.

Plush and expansive, with a sour cream and roasted-lemon character. It’s a generous wine that harks back to Chardonnays of the past, but it’s a style that grows on you, winning you over with its insistent acidity and peachy fruit.