“I made bubbly as a young winemaker at Môreson but didn’t really appreciate then what it was all about,” John said. “It was during my time working with Peter Ferreira at Graham Beck in Robertson that I started appreciating how complex and fascinating it truly is.”

Loubser believes that South Africa has huge potential both as a consumer and maker of sparkling wine, pointing out that one winery has grown its production to a million bottles of Methode Cap Classique annually. “But then some of the larger producers in Champagne make 20 million bottles alone – and there are a few which have base wine stretching back 27 vintages!”

He is of the opinion that winemakers, during their careers, naturally gravitate towards an area of specialisation – white or red – and admits his is MCC. “About 80% of what I drink is white – and a high proportion of that is bubbly. I find it utterly absorbing from a technical point of view, there’s a precision required, a complexity involved and overall it’s a helluva challenge. I believe we are only just beginning to scratch the surface of what’s possible in South Africa.”

The alchemy involved in the secondary fermentation in bottle to produce the millions of bubbles is well understood but there’s so much scope for experimentation locally. More and more producers are adding sparkling wines to their ranges while few are focussing solely on bubbly production.

Loubser revealed that Steenberg’s production is set to grow dramatically over the next five years. “We’re currently making 2 500 cases by 12 bottles and we’ll be increasing that to 10 000 by 2015/2016! The potential is amazing and it’s an exciting challenge that we look forward to.”