YOU know this tidal wave of champagne that's supposed to wash us all into the next century - not kicking and screaming but frothing merrily at the mouth? Mild exaggeration. Few of us are likely to down the quantity demanded, even in a non-millennium year, by the sort of Oxford dining societies that young Prince William may end up in (five bottles each on your first night). And we keep being told there's plenty. Even so, I have a feeling the market will divide between buyers scurrying to snap up champagne's best known names and those left with some pretty nasty cheap stuff. There is a middle way. Look to the French, millions of whom pride themselves on buying champagne of reasonable quality at a reasonable price - not from the big houses, and not from the coops, but from the 5,000 small producers who use some of the grapes they grow to make champagne under their own name. "Everybody in France knows of a great little champagne producer," says Billy Forrester, who was so taken with the bubbly his French wife Anne acquired for their wedding in Lille two years ago that he and a friend, Rory Morrish, set up Bubble Brothers in Cork - the only company in Ireland to focus on importing a range of champagnes from small growers. "The names of the good ones are passed around among families and friends."
Their first purchase, the nuptial fizz - a soft, fruity champagne which has been a bestseller ever since - came from Jose Pierlot, a fourth-generation producer in the Vallee de la Marne whose father had been in the war with the father of a friend of Anne's. Pierlot in turn pointed them towards other reliable small houses in Champagne's other key regions, the Montagne de Reims and the Cote des Blancs. The result? A list that offers 18 very different champagnes from seven producers. Any day now, there will be even more.
These producers, it's important to mention, are recoltants-manipulants: the letters RM on their labels indicate that they produce champagne exclusively from their own vineyards - in other words, they are responsible for the whole process, from grape to shipped bottle. It's also fair to say that not all RM champagnes are good; with thousands of players, some with much better vineyards and more rigorous methods than others, there's bound to be unevenness. Still, with many passionate individuals making their best effort for the bottles that bear their name, this layer of the market is worth trawling . And the fact they spend nothing on flash marketing boosts the quality/price ratio.
Back to Bubble Brothers. How exactly did Billy Forrester - who now runs the show, Morrish being busily engaged elsewhere - get into this business? It was the kind of career swerve that most of us would never have the gumption for. "Previously I'd worked as a carpenter," he explains. "I'd always been good with my hands." Not surprising, as he is the son of Jane Forrester of Bandon Pottery, where he grew up tackling odd jobs. His narrow house in Cork, brilliantly restored from the kitchen at the top to the bottle dispatch area at the bottom, bears the stamp of an inspired artisan.
But yes, he is a wine lover who utterly adores champagne. "It started in the 1980s when I was working in London. Champagne was £10 a bottle and we were all getting paid £12 an hour. Heady days!" Living in Soho, he witnessed the mushrooming of Oddbins and browsed through the wine shops of Old Compton Street. Back in Ireland in 1989, "the first thing that hit me was how high the prices were". With our execrable duty of £3.22 plus 21 per cent VAT on every bottle, he is still quite rightly horrified by Irish champagne prices. "It's upsetting, because twice as much champagne would be drunk if the duty on sparkling wines were around the UK level of £1.88." Are you listening, Mr McCreevy?
Bubble Brothers was born within a few months of the Forresters' marriage, making its first big splash during Cork Ford Week last July, when 1,000 bottles were sold in six days. "It was just like our wedding," says Billy. "A lot of young people drinking a lot of champagne and having a great time."
Since then, progress has been swift, with new additions to the list, and new initiatives. The company has a designer to work with clients who want their own label, for instance. Bubble Brothers participated in the Slow Food convivium in Dublin in July. A few weeks later, Billy Forrester was on Dun Laoghaire pier, explaining his different styles of champagne to visitors at the Taste of France food fair. This week, Bubble Brothers took its biggest step so far, holding a major tasting for the restaurant trade in the Shelbourne.
In person, Forrester comes across as quiet and gentle, almost diffident - but don't be misled. Everything he does is coloured by commitment and an unflagging, infectious exuberance. The Bubble Brothers catalogue, based on Warhol's Marilyn Monroe, is the brightest, snazziest wine list in the country. A brief enquiry about any of the champagnes triggers an email stream of enthusiastic detail. But what I love most is the heading that pops up on your screen: OoOoOoOoOoOoOo.
Bubble Brothers, 43 Upper John Street, Cork. Tel/fax 021 552252 or 01 672 5777, email bubblebrotherstinet.ie, website http://homepage.tinet.ie/~bubblebrothers. Next day delivery nationwide on orders received by noon. Delivery charge for six bottles (minimum order): £10; up to 12 bottles: £15; per dozen thereafter: £3. Discounts for quantities of 18 bottles or more.