'Just opened a 1999 Simonsig bubbly. Delicious. You really should try to age some of your purchases' was my SMS to Sparkling Shirley, so nicknamed in our household for her fierce commitment to bubbles ahead of other beverages. Problem is, no matter what she buys - Krone, current favourite Villiera Monro, Veuve Clicquot when she's feeling flush - it seldom remains unopened for more than a few days. And, while bubbles are wonderful when fresh, they're special when matured.

According to Simonsig's website, founder Frans Malan pioneered Méthode Champenoise wines in South Africa when he made the first Kaapse Vonkel in 1971 from chardonnay and pinot noir. It also became the first Cap Classique, as our MC bubbles are now known, to use all three of the classic grape varieties used in Champagne when pinot meunier was introduced in 1997.

My 1999 was, as I have said, delicious. Deep yellow in colour, it had tiny rampant bubbles that perked my spirits just be being there, a honey-comb nose, and bright elegant palate. I'd taken it from the cellar a few days before and chilled it in case the wine club meeting at my house needed a palate freshener after seven Northern Rhônes on a very hot Sunday afternoon. Fortunately for me, they'd opted for riesling instead.

While in the cellar, I'd also pulled out a bottle that proved even more enjoyable, partly because of the wine quality, partly because of what it signified, and partly because I was looking forward to sharing it with people I respect and love. This was a Cuvée Dom Pérignon 1988, the prestige cuvée of the giant Moët et Chandon Champagne house, and a gift from Boekenhoutskloof's Marc Kent when I passed my Master of Wine in 2005.

Moët was not the first Champagne to use the monk's name; early in the last century small proprietaire-recoltants (farmer-growers) at Hautvillers, employed it for their wine. Unfortunately for them they did not register the name, Dom Pérignon, as a trademark. The first bottle of 'Dom' was made in 1921 and was only released for sale in 1936. The cuvee is chardonnay and pinot noir, usually around 60% of the former, and the dosage is around 6g/l (2g/l lower than Kaapse Vonkel).

Not everyone sipping this wine thought it as glorious as I did. It was golden-hued with tiny racy bubbles (I had one of the glasses I'd polished thoroughly, others were a bit of a damp squib), honey toned, with more savoury aromas and flavours than the sugar-dusted brioche of younger wines. On the palate, it was like liquid silk. Yes, it was old ... some said jaded. Yes, its acidity was fading ... I probably should have opened it a few years earlier. But yes, I loved it, for so many more reasons that it just 'tasted nice'.