Bubbles wrapped up for Christmas

With the biggest sales period for the Irish drinks business about to begin in earnest this week, wine shops, supermarkets and off-licences are packed with dolled-up single bottles not worth their cellophane wrapping, special Christmas box-sets and elaborate, festive, wooden selection cases.

Beyond all that sit the champagnes, regal and enticing.

Let us, as David Attenborough might say quietly to camera, push on into this flashy world of wine, that exists for just ...