Tomorrow's stars - Back to basics, pushing the envelope, getting it right

He was drawing parallels between styles of wine and music, where one might have the great classics (by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, for example), the more rebellious styles of rock (such as The Rolling Stones), the "weird stuff which I love very much" (think Tom Waits) and of course hits for the mass market à la Britney Spiers. "Apparently no one listens to Britney or drinks Blue Nun..."

Pfützner said a star isn't just about the wine in the glass; it's about having a great story too. "Personality is also quite important - someone very bland or a real arsehole might struggle to become a star!"

In the end, however, he said it's the marketplace which determines who really makes it. "The wine needs to be drunk; it needs to be delicious."

There's certainly a lot of talent in South Africa, said Pfützner, who had tasted "extensively" to come up with his panel of stars and their wines. "We planned to have five but only managed to narrow it down to seven. It was really difficult."

In Pfützner's opinion, young South African winemakers are less driven by tradition than they might be in Europe, and more by breaking new ground. "We don't copy the Old World, although we sometimes adopt the philosophy of the World and adapt it to our conditions."