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Financial Mail by Neil Pendock - Not quite home and dry
Delarey Brugman is a Stellenbosch wine farmer who looks like Tom Cruise in Oprah couch-bouncing mode. This great-grandson of Boer general Koos de la Rey (he of singer Bok van Blerk's Boere anthem) burst on to the local wine scene in 2005 with a vibrant sauvignon blanc called Ilka - named after his twin daughters Ilse and Karla - and a cheeky plan.
Called "bring it home", the plan was to cut out the middleman and wrest the supply train from distributors and retailers. They, understandably, were not impressed, which probably explains why you've never seen Ilka on your supermarket or bottlestore shelf.
Brugman's cheeky idea was that producers should control their brand from inception to consumption, which meant selling directly to consumers and restaurants. He calculated that increased costs of 5%-9% were more than offset by a 21% increase in income. Of course, what he hadn't factored into his equation was that some retailers are also shareholders in distribution companies. So there has been predictable resistance from some retailers. The reality is that distributors remain kingmakers - obvious from the many restaurant wine lists that could double as distributor inventories.
Delarey's childhood home was Boskruin, in the northwest of Johannesburg, where his nickname was Spep van Boskruin. "Spep" is Tswana for bushbaby, which is what his dad thought he looked like when he was born. However, his evolutionary development was rapid and by the time he was in his 20s, he was an international model and personal trainer. Among the brands for which he did modelling work was the Opel Corsa.
So it was appropriate that he chose The Local Grill in Hurlingham to launch the 2007 vintage of his Ilka Sauvignon Blanc. Since it's 10 km from Boskruin, he was literally bringing it home. Presented at a dinner for patrons of The Local Grill and assorted Springboks (one of Brugman's former career choices was as the SA version of Jerry Maguire, the movie sports agent played by Tom Cruise), the Ilka 2007 was well received. This was something of a mixed blessing for Brugman, who would have preferred plaudits to go to his cabernet sauvignon instead.
As he notes, on his 11 ha Alluvia farm in the Banhoek Valley, "cabernet sauvignon is something we can excel in. Our objective is to see how good we can be in one varietal. But our sauvignon blanc is more popular. In the future, we hope it will be our cabernet sauvignon that will excel." Speaking of which, the 2004 has opened up from a tight beginning in 2005 and has developed into a most approachable food wine. The 2005 vintage will be released later this year.
But it's the 2007 Ilka that is the standout crop, confirming the observation of UK wine personality Robert Joseph after judging the Swiss International Wine Awards earlier this year: "You have to be selling a product people want to buy, rather than making something you want to sell."
