Stellenbosch clearly weren’t joking when they rebranded themselves from Oak City to the Kingdom of Cabernet last year at Cape Wine 2015. Bet the tasting panel wished they’d included Warwick in their Top Twenty Cabernets after a 2014 from the Simonsberg estate was knocked down for 1.3 bar on Saturday at the AfrAsia Cape Wine Auction. The question on eveyone’s lips, and those of David Bullard in particular, was who bought the bottle?

My sources claim it was Sello Rasethaba (above, right), chairman of Xpanse Holdings. Sello is also leader of the push to improve trade ties with Iran but a bottle of Stellenbosch Cabernet as a present for the Ayatollahs is perhaps a bit of a stretch. A Shiraz would be far more appropriate.