More Bolly, dahlings?

Wine lovers can be a boring old lot, banging on about bouquets, Bordeaux and bin ends, talking about "oak noses", "smooth tannins" and "caramel flavours", and getting stuck on the minutiae instead of just getting on with having fun. No wonder Patsy and Edina from Absolutely Fabulous never get invited to many tastings.

Ever since Ab Fab introduced Bollinger to the world at large, the eminent French champagne producer has found it more and more difficult to maintain its traditionally snooty facade. The enduring image of Patsy and Edina staggering around on television, sozzled on Bolly, has boosted sales of the famous bubbly, but the two fictional floozies were notably absent from the Atrium in Trinity College last Tuesday, where a wine-tasting masterclass was held for a select group of well-behaved wine lovers.

Three of the world's leading winemakers, Ghislain de Montgolfier, chairman of Bollinger, Esme Johnstone of Chateau de Sours in Bordeaux, and Huyshe Bower, director of Taylor's, were there to serve up some vintage vino with the dinner, and tell the guests just how much their glass of gargle was worth.

"In the beginning, we were very worried when we saw these two famous ladies being very drunk and making people laugh," said de Montgolfier, whose great grandfather, Jacques Bollinger, founded the family business in Ay in northeast France, "We were trying to be a very snobby, high-class wine, but later we were thankful to these two ladies, because they were good for sales. They also show that champagne is not for being serious - it is part of enjoying life."

Among the foodies who enjoyed the bubbly were Johnny Cooke from Cooke's Cafe, Jean Jacques Callibet of Freres Jacques Restaurant, Aidan and Joan McManus of the King Sitric Restaurant, Silke Moore O'Farrell of Brasserie Na Mara in Dun Laoghaire, Tom Williamson and Viv Gaine of the Avenue Restaurant in Donnybrook, and Derry Clarke of L'Ecrivain.