CHARDONNAY sales have made a surprising rise to the top of the league . . . and the only thing Asda can attribute to this is the return of the ITV series Footballers' Wives.

The store is this week toasting the series and especially the character Chardonnay after sales of the wine she is named after increased.

Christopher Elmore, Asda's wine buying manager, said: "We started to notice that sales of Chardonnay in all our stores increased towards the beginning of the week. The only thing we can attribute this to is Footballers' Wives."

Asda has decided to roll back prices of Chardonnay during the series' run.

To kick off, Hardy's VR Chardonnay has been reduced from £4.38 to £3.98 and Rawson's Retreat Semillon Chardonnay is going down from £4.38 to £3.98.

BACARDI Breezer has introduced a new diet lemon flavour to its range -- just in time for all those New Year slimming resolutions. It contains just 110 calories, but does not skimp on the taste. Bacardi Breezer is a blend of one and a half shots of Bacardi rum, fruit juices, exotic flavourings and sparkling mineral water. Non-diet flavours include orange, lime, watermelon, pineapple, cranberry and new ruby grapefruit. The diet lemon flavour is now available in Tesco, and will be on sale in other supermarkets from February 1.

THE"full Montes" range is now on sale at a variety of supermarkets and wine merchants. The selection may vary in price from £5.99 through to £11.99, but all the wines in this group are top quality. The Montes Reserve Sauvignon Blanc, Curic Valley 2001, is the least expensive of the range. Priced at £5.99, it is available from Majestic off-licences. The Montes Alpha Chardonnay, Curic Valley 2000, priced at £9.99 is sourced from vines aged at more than 50 years -- and its good breeding certainly pays off. It is available from Majestic, Morrisons and Hedley Wright Wine Merchants. Still on the whites, the Montes "Limited Selection" Pinot Noir, Casablanca 2001 is the first wine in the Montes range to be sourced from the Casablanca region. It is £6.99 from Majestic. The Montes "Limited Selection" Cabernet Carmenre 2001 is a blend of 70per cent Cabernet, 30per cent Carmenre, at £7.99 from Majestic.