If you’re a wine drinker, you might be a member in good standing of the ABC Club. In this case, “ABC” stands for Anything But Chardonnay.

After years of drinking oaky, fruit bombs that offered little for the thoughtful wine drinker, more wine lovers are turning to pinot grigio, which is also known as pinot gris if it’s not grown in Italy. The white wine offers sharper, citrus-like notes and goes well with some foods. You can also enjoy pinot grigio on the deck with friends and no food at all.

We asked a pair of New Jersey wine experts, Gary Vaynerchuk from the Wine Library in Springfield and Jay Emminger, consulting wine director for Sparrow Wine and Liquors in Hoboken, for some pinot grigio recommendations. These wine vendors offer online ordering and shipping to states where permitted, so you may be able to browse and buy without leaving home.

Vaynerchuk, 31, whose enthusiastic videos on the Wine Library Web site earned him a recent guest spot on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” says pinot grigio found its niche some years back with the arrival of Santa Margherita on these shores from Italy.

“Pinot grigio was huge then and it’s still huge,” says Vaynerchuk, who rarely waffles on anything related to wine. “I’ve been watching pinot gris for 10 or 15 years. I like one pinot gris from Alsace (a wine region in France) and some from Oregon. They’re better for the money than some from Italy.”

Vaynerchuk likes pairing pinot grigio with oysters, Thai food and seafood dishes. “It has more intricacy than an overoaked Chardonnay.”

Ironically, Vaynerchuk’s favorite is the 2005 Fantinel Tessis, which is available for $9.99. It’s Italian with notes of mango and pineapple on the nose, and surprisingly long finish.

“It has great body,” Vaynerchuk says. “It’s clean and crisp with not too much sugar.”

For civilians, the nose is how the wine smells and the “finish” is how long the taste lingers after you drink. With some wines, you have the feeling of “Where did it go?” seconds after you swallow. If the taste and texture stick around, that’s a long finish. The sugar Vaynerchuk is referring to is not a syrupy taste, but a building block of the wine’s structure. Too much residual sugar can flatten out the taste of the wine.

Vaynerchuk also recommended the 2006 Chehalem Pinot Gris from Oregon, which sells for $16.99 at the Library.

“This has some guts and could stand up to being served with salmon or other fatty fish,” Vaynerchuk says. “It’s pretty darn cool.”

Emminger recommends that you don’t wait more than a couple of years to drink pinot gris. For example, a 2005 wine should be drunk now.

“We’re seeing more Old World style pinot gris,” Emminger says. “Instead of the New World fruit-forward style, it’s getting back to its origins, especially in Alsace and Oregon.”

(Another wine fan to civilian translation: The Old World encompasses wine growing regions of Europe, which place more emphasis on wine in relation to food with subtle flavors. The New World is pretty much everywhere else on the planet, where wine is often drunk like a cocktail. So some New World winemakers emphasize alcohol content and very straightforward flavors).

Emminger offered several recommendations that are available at Sparrow. The 2006 Kris, from Italy’s Veneto region, is a good value at $11.99. This is an everyday, go-to wine, Emminger says.

For special occasions, Emminger recommends the 2005 Kofererhof from the Alto Adige region of Italy at $22.99. These wines are characterized by their medium to short finishes and citrus and mineral accents on the nose and palate.

Saint Michael Eppan 2004, another wine from the Alto Adige, sells for $14.99 and is, according to Emminger, “nice, clean and great on the palate.”

Lastly, Emminger recommends the 2006 Lange, which sells for $16.99 and comes from the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Oregon’s pinot noirs are widely renowned, but the pinot gris are coming up strong.