THREE years ago, you were more likely to find a Plettenberg Bay polo tycoon sipping on an expensive single malt whisky or a bubbly from a vintage French champagne on the resort’s expansive polo estates than a group of wine buffs quaffing the latest Crags harvest.

But as the worldwide recession has taken its toll and financial empires have crumbled, the glory days of rich businessmen jetting between their polo ponies and private parties on the Garden Route have largely faded away.

In their place have come passionate wine farmers who are transforming some once lush polo fields into vineyards.

Businessmen Paul Main, who was patron of Bateleur Polo; Charles Cornwall, the creator of the Lara Croft computer game who owned Kurland Park polo estate; and British asset-stripper Brian Myerson, who owned Bitou Polo, have all parted ways with the sport in the past two years – often as their personal scandals made headlines around the world.

The holes left by these larger- than-life characters has been filled, in the case of Bitou, with grape vines. The area now boasts 16 wine farms, two of which are producing.

Visionary Peter Thorpe, who opened Bramon Wines in The Crags outside Plettenberg Bay in 2000, is now the chairman of the Plettenberg Bay Winegrowers’ Association.

“The wine farms have all committed to doing a Cap Classique-style wine so that the area can have its own bubbly route in future,” Thorpe said. “So rather than hindering polo, the addition of wine farms is actually going to improve visitors’ experience on the Garden Route.”

Despite losing big money and two “world class” polo fields at Bitou, the news is not all bad for lovers of the “Sport of Kings”.

SA Polo Association executive director Clive Peddle believes the polo scene is not very different to what it was five years ago.

“It’s a lot more relaxed and very family orientated. People come to watch polo and enjoy themselves,” Peddle said. “There used to be two or three people with helicopters. This has diminished now from the ‘boom era’ of a few years ago.”

With the big money out, opportunities for promising young players are more prevalent.

Guy Watson, polo manager at Stonefield in Plettenberg Bay, said the parties were a lot quieter “now that businessmen don’t have fun money to spend”.

South African polo star Buster McKenzie, whose son Christopher plays with him occasionally, has started children’s polo clinics.

Occasional polo patron Tommy Crowe, who is from KwaZulu Natal, is playing in a four-goal tournament this month with his sons Benjamin, 13, and James, 10. The boys, both keen horsemen, recently returned from playing in an Argentine children’s polo tournament.

“The previous era of polo had the focus wrong,” Crowe said. “The power and the quality horses were kept in two or three teams. The game used to be dictated by money and power. The attitude of players and their spirits is better now.”