Big is not always beautiful as my tiny organ demonstrates on a weekly basis. Small bubbles are also preferable when it comes to fizz. Graham Beck has some of the smallest bubbles in the business.

Bottle of the Week: Graham Beck Brut Zero 2011

How much and where? R280; widely available

Why? Who was J Alfred Prufrock with the miserable comment, “I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think they will sing to me”? His immortal complaint is the takeaway from the eponymous love song penned by TS Eliot a century ago.

Al should have put his ear to a glass of Graham Beck Brut Zero 2011. A Lehmann Jamesse Prestige Grand glass (R450 at any upscale purveyor of stemware) will do. Then he’d have heard the ethereal melody of the bubbles. This is Mashrou’ Leila for gastronauts.

Jamesse is the sommelier at food heaven Boyer les Crayères in Reims (Michelin ***) and you can’t get grander than that. Besides it’s 10% cheaper than the Veritas glass from Riedel. So super sophistication at a discount.

For R20 a normal bubbly flute will play the mermaid melody an octave higher. Brut Zero means no sugar was added to the 100% chardonnay juice which was left on the lees for five years. Which explains why it is R50 more expensive than the excellent Blanc de Blanc 2012. The accountant insists on his pound of flesh. Held back for an extra year, the price increases 20%.

Oysters are the perfect accompaniment as the absence of sweetness enhances the salty tang of the molluscs. Try them with tempura oysters, lime, gari (pickled ginger), apple and squid ink aioli at The Stack behind the Mount Nelson. A dinkum nautical address if ever there was one. Or buy the oysters from Wild Peacock and do it yourself.

This is the acme of the bubblemeister’s art. In this bottle South African fizz comes of age and is one of the few consolations of a Banting diet.

Rating: *****

***** WB Yeats

**** TS Eliot

*** Ezra Pound

** Sylvia Plath

* Ogden Nash