An evening of good wine, good food and good company. What a feast it was, says viticulturist Rosa Kruger.

Jörg Pfüetzner and his lovely wife Claire invited top winemakers from Portugal, Austria, Germany and Burgundy together with Eben Sadie and Duncan Savage to occasions in the fine restaurants of Greenhouse (Cellars Hohenort) and Nobu (One&Only) in Cape Town last  weekend.

Heated debates about the crux of fine wines, how really to express terroir and how to keep the winemaker's ego from overpowering the wine occurred amidst lots of laughter and banter. All were teased and their wines criticized and applauded, but everybody was treated with collegial respect and admiration. Much wine was consumed and every other hour a new bottle appeared from under the table and was received with much acclaim.

Dirk von Niepoort, respected Portuguese winemaker (with a mop of curly hair) has a sharp intellect about the essence of quality wine. His cellar in the Douro valley, beautifully constructed from the slate soils, produces the Niepoort Redoma 07 and Niepoort Vertente that we tasted at Nobu. Dirk and his winemaker Luís Seabra make wines from vines scattered on the steep slopes above the Têdo river. Many different varieties, some vines older than 70 years, are planted here mingling in one block and harvested together.

Dirk and Eben Sadie presented their South African wine, Cape Charme 08, at the afternoon tutored tasting. The wine, made from Carignan, Grenache, Tinta Barocca and  "two drops" of Pinotage, recalled the Swartland for me, and also reminded me of the old South African wines; blended with the smell of fynbos, were the spice and fruit of the varieties; it had a lovely strength, but without the power and density of overripe fruit and too much wood or over-working of the grapes and wines.

The Rieslings from the quiet and distinguished Egon Müller are amongst the finest in the world. His knowledge of his vineyards, the land and the history of the Mosel area gives weight and character to his lovely wines. We tasted at dinner his Scharzhofberger Kabinett 2002 and 2007.

Grüner Veltliner has always been an admirable but rather unknown cultivar to me. Michael Moosbrugger from Schloss Gobelsburg in the Maptal area of Austria explained his wines to us in great detail, always referring to the quality of the soil, the slope of the vineyard, and the history. His wines showed the same class and finesse as his presentation.

From Burgundy we tasted the wines of Gérémy Gateau from Maison Roche de Bellene. We tasted amongst others, the 1978 Volnay er Cru Santenots.

At Greenhouse Jörg presented a 1974 Nederburg Auction Cabernet, a 1966 GS Cabernet Sauvignon and a 1959 Chateau Libertas. Egon Müller agreed with me that the 74 Cabernet was a lovely wine with length, structure and character.

The question always arises: if we could make wine of such a quality 30 odd years ago, what happened over the last 20 years? Some say it was the leafroll virus that stopped the sugars, some say they just picked so much earlier, some say less expensive wood was used and some say more acid was added. I will not dare to enter the discussion.

The beautiful Isliedh 2005 from Cape Point Vineyards once again proved to me that Sauvignon Blanc in South Africa can have character based on something other than greenness and acidity.

Finally Eben Sadie's friend from Spain, Raúl Perez, arrived with a crate full of wines - Albarino, Mencia and Godello from Galicia in northwest Spain. The vibrance, strength yet leanness of his Mencia once again reminded me why I love this varietal so much!  Raúl, my friend, I admire anybody that lives wine like you do!

Congratulations and great thanks to Jörg and Claire for hosting this weekend - it was such a privilege.