The first holiday weekend of the year is a good time to think vinously ahead to the biggest holiday bash of all time - or at least of your lifetime and mine. Let there be no millennium panic: just a bit of prudent planning. The word from Champagne is that there are enough bottles stored deep in those chalk labyrinths to fuel a few years of feverish celebrations, so nobody is likely to go thirsty. Non-vintage? No problem. Vintage? Not yet a problem. But if you fancy the very finest for the fin de siecle, now is the time to buy it.
Prestige cuvee champagne is produced only in very limited quantities in the very best years, so there's not a lot of it around to begin with. Already in London, wine merchants are chasing elusive cases at vastly inflated prices - and you can bet the same thing will happen here. This is champagne's big year, after all. People who don't usually touch the stuff at all are likely to see in the new century with some sort of bubbles - and those who love it to death may well treat themselves to a luxury bottle. The top of the pops.
Now, unless you have bundles of money or exceptional overdraft facilities, the prices of these peerless champagnes will make you swallow hard. Sixty quid or so for six glasses of fizz! As with expensive holidays, meals and other evanescent pleasures, justification may not come easy. But, for people who love wine (or even just the sense of occasion that something very special confers), this is the absolute business.
If you still need excuses, listen carefully. The outlay on a bottle or two of luxury champagne looks modest compared with the likely price of The Evening in a restaurant. Besides which, babysitters and taxis will be like gold dust, and as dear. Wouldn't it be easier, and probably much nicer, to celebrate with family, friends and glorious fizz at home? "We see the millennium moving very much in that direction," says Jimmy Redmond of Redmond's in Ranelagh - a man who has been steadily building up his vintage champagne stocks these past few months. "People are already buying for special events at home."
In anticipation of all this, the champagne barons have been busy canvassing support. In Dublin the week before last, Ghislain de Montgolfier, president of Champagne Bollinger, and Prince Alain de Polignac, head of Champagne Pommery, dispensed their precious bubbles to the press on the same day. Indeed, De Montgolfier and his nephew Guy Bizot have been here several times in the past few years for tastings of their splendid champagnes - commendable but curious. Why bother with Ireland when it's such a miniscule market for high-class fizz? "You know, for us there are many small markets and they are all important," said Bollinger's head man, with that diplomatic charm which those born into champagne families seem to absorb from birth, along with a passion for bubbles.
The other pre-millennium high came just before Christmas when sparkling Serena Sutcliffe gave a masterclass on deluxe cuvee champagne at the Decanter Fine Wine Encounter in London. Not a bad start to a Sunday morning, I have to say, sampling 12 of the best in magnum from 1985, 1988, 1989 and 1990 - all outstanding years. Trying to pick a few favourites from the line-up is a ridiculous exercise, when it's a privilege and a thrilling treat to encounter any of these well-bred champions at all. Still, the out-and-out stunners - those I'd be tempted to mortgage husband, children and my granny's silver teapot for - are included in the list below.
Champagne Bollinger Grande Annee, 1990 (selected Superquinn and Dunnes Stores outlets, specialist wine shops, about £50). Fermented in wooden casks, this is toasty, rich and, in typical Bollinger fashion, utterly distinctive - almost slightly salty. I love it. "It would be a tragedy to serve it as an aperitif," says Serena Sutcliffe. "Sit down to it with caviar or foie gras." If you have any cash remaining.
Champagne Cuvee Dom Perignon Brut, 1990 (specialist wine shops, about £70). The surprising thing about DP is that the quality is so magnificent even though a significant quantity is made. Intense aromas, lovely texture and a character that may remind you of a top white Burgundy.
Champagne Pol Roger, Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill Brut, 1988 (Redmonds Ranelagh, magnums only, about £160). Sir Winston liked mature champagne, so the one they named after him is made to keep. (The 1990 hasn't yet been released.) A tremendous, full-bodied example from a bulldog vintage, it has freshness and elegance as well as depth. Superb.
Champagne Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame Brut, 1990 (specialist wine shops, about £65). There's great finesse, liveliness and lovely, ripe fruit in Clicquot's supreme offering. The 1990 still tastes youthful, so if by any miracle you don't drink it all, it will keep for years to come, turning gently toasty.
Champagne Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, Blanc de Blancs, 1989 (specialist wine shops, about £65). A beautifully subtle, harmonious champagne that makes me think of ripe autumn apples and the merest hint of bonfire smoke. Blanc de blancs champagnes - 100 per cent Chardonnay - are especially suitable for drinking without food.