What a difference a decade makes. Perusing the Slimes in Motherland this morning, the only wines mentioned were pushy ads for Porcine Ridge, a Franschhoek brand trying desperately to sprinkle some book magic on its corporate cadaver. Turn the clock back a decade and I’d have been boosting the billionaires of Bacchus in the Lifestyle. Today I do it in City Press. Or rather sommelier Marlvin Gwese does.

Banghoek above Stellenbosch is a battleground for billionaires. Perhaps it should be renamed Billionaireshoek as scaredy corner is hardly a recommendation for tourists.

On the one mountain sits Laurence Graff, King of Diamonds, surrounded by loud Tretchikoff paintings and tortured Dylan Lewis sculptures, sipping quietly on his Delaire-Graff Swartland Chenin Blanc 2015.

On the other peak, which is actually the edge of the Simonsberg, sits banker GT Ferreira and his Marco Cianfanelli slick laser cut sculptures with a glass of Director’s Reserve 2012 in his hand. Quite appropriately, as GT is the consummate corporate director.

Both wines are lovely but totally different in style. The Director’s Reserve is the classic Bordeaux blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, understated and refined like a Dior blouse or a little black number from Coco Chanel. The Delaire is altogether louder and more in your face: booming ripe apricot flavours from the Swartland with an oily palate.

Just the kind of thing to wash down a spicy prawn tom yam goong at Indochine, the restaurant at Delaire while the Directors is more confit duck leg with parsnip purée, eggplant, sushi rice and a gooseberry sauce which deftly picks up the greengage flavours from the Sauvignon Blanc. The kind of dish chef Richard Carstens whips up in the restaurant at Tokara. So if you lunch Tokara then have dinner at Indochine and watch the sun set over Franschhoek as Delaire has luxurious accommodation. And a helipad too, for the truly wealthy in a hurry.

Laurence made his loot from diamonds, which is essentially trading at the top end of the sex industry as the De Beers director once noted, while GT was a banker who made it big when Barclays exited SA in the Apartheid sanctions days. Barclays is on its way out again, giving the bank something of a yoyo reputation.

Diamonds are non-renewable resources while wine is a renewable one, so it’s nice to see miners graduate to wine as they age. In fact if you turn the “m” of mines upside down, you get wines and SA is famous for both.

Our largest mining company, Anglo American, owns Vergelegen in Somerset West and their finest white, called GVB, is the same blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon although this blend is weighted in favour of Semillon while the Directors is Sauvignon dominated.

The grapes for the Tokara tipple come from the farm, although for how much longer Stellenbosch will continue to produce quality Sauvignon Blanc is up for discussion as global warming proceeds apace. Already Tokara source the grapes for their single cultivar Sauvignon Blanc from Elgin which is a couple of degrees cooler.

Stellenbosch is likely to remain a great place to showcase wine even if the grapes are grown in other, cooler, appellations. Or at higher elevations. The most extreme case being a new icon red called Ao Yun (Chinese for “roaming above the clouds”) produced by Moët Hennessy on the edge of the Tibetan plateau at an altitude of 2,600m. Which makes even Johannesburg look low lying. At a price of €300 (R5,300) a bottle, truly a drink for billionaires.