For a man whose trademark colour is black, there is an awful lot of gold in the aura of José Berardo. Back in Johannesburg in the eighties, he drove a gold coloured Roller to the top of a mine dump whose gold he was reclaiming. Yesterday, he was hugging grannies at the golden feet of a reclining Buddha in the garden of his Quinta dos Loridos winery, one hour north of Lisbon. “Jesus!” said the well upholstered American tourist who’d battled up the hill for enlightenment, leaning on Buddha while her friend took a photo. “Wrong god” says Joe.

Joe’s Buddha garden is part of an amazing cultural patrimony that spans the country, taking in museums, art galleries and wineries that annually attract 2.5 million visitors in a country of 10. “Anyone can make or lose a billion” notes Joe (who has) “but making your mark in culture is different.” Who else but Joe, watching the Taliban blow up the Buddhas at Bamiyan, would recreate them and more in granite and marble at Bombarral? “One man destroys, another creates” is what he now says with a fair amount of Zen. But when he saw it happen on TV, watching with his son, I bet “F*ck you!” was the uncensored version.

Over lunch at A Lareira restaurant (grouper for Joe, Portuguese rare steak with two fried eggs on top for this Good Value Guru’s little helper) Joe sipped on a glass of golden Alvarino. This son of a wine blender from Maderia who came to Africa to grow vegetables in Parys, win a twist dancing competition in Lourenco Marques and make a fortune from reclaiming gold from the dumps which encircle Johannesburg, has come full circle.

Joe at his Quinta, yesterday

“When did you leave Africa?” I asked. “I never did. I have a home in Johannesburg and am still a resident. Africa gave me a life for my dream.”