Its cultural cringe gone mad. Whenever the groot koppe from the SA wine industry head off to London for the annual SA Megatasting, the big news breaks from Blighty. Like Bruce Jack, brave little boutique battler (Flagstone) taking the shilling from Constellation, largest wine behemoth on the planet. And now Simon Barlow sells Brampton to DGB. More a New World interpretation of Old World estate Rustenberg, Brampton never really played second label to one of the Cape’s undisputed First Growths.

Made from bought-in grapes plus fruit from Simon’s “other farm” Nooitgedacht on the Helderberg, Brampton is a restaurateurs dream – slick packaging, exotic flair (one of the first single cultivar bottling of Viognier in SA and an excellent rosé) plus an unbeatable value for money proposition. Like a victim of leprosy, Simon has been discarding bits of Nooitgedacht over the years and even moved home back to Rustenberg last year. With the sale of the Brampton brand to DGB, the final bull from his late mom’s dairy herd has been sold off. (Brampton was named after the prize-winning Jersey bull Brampton Beacon Boomer imported by Simon’s dad from Canada).

The Barlow bulls: Murray and Simon Barlow

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