For a man who was once the enfant terrible of the Cape wine industry, Vergelegen’s Andre van Rensburg has mellowed rather well. Except for the occasional outburst involving his pet hatreds — pinotage and the Swartland — he has not made headlines for so long that his employer, Anglo American, has been able to focus on its core businesses.
It now emerges that what has kept Van Rensburg out of harm’s way is his working partnership with Michel Rolland, the French oenologist whose worldwide consulting activities have included Vergelegen since 2014.