Now that national airline SAA (which costs SA taxpayers billions to keep aloft) has abandoned Cape Town, the DA-hub, its left to KLM to provide daily direct flights from Amsterdam. The clock has been turned back 360 years to the days when the VOC, forerunners to KLM, sent Flying Dutchmen to the Cape. Heck, the airline has even taken ownership of the phrase Flying Dutchman.

Chile, the most effective wine competitor to SA, has stolen a march on the SA industry in economy class with the only wines available a Chardonnay/Sauvignon Blanc 2011 and a Cabernet/Merlot 2011 from Terra Andina, shown below near the end of yesterday’s chock-a-block flight from Schiphol.

The Chilean white is better than the too sweet red, but neither is anything a Robertson Co-op or Obikwa could not do in a lighter and way more attractive bottle. SA honour is salvaged in business class at least with Aaldering wines on the list. But then Aaldering is owned by the eponymous businessman Fons who knows the secret ingredient in every Dutch purchase – value for money. Something they know in Santiago, too.

WOSA shot themselves in the foot with KLM at the recent Cape Wine 2012 jamboree that the local spittoon judges a roaring success. Two SA winery proprietors were kakked out by WOSA heavies (now no doubt redeployed to advising WIETA on the farm labour crisis) for daring to invite a KLM buyer to their own private functions rather than follow the pre-cast itinerary. Neither proprietors nor buyer enjoyed being treated as naughty schoolboys, making it that little bit harder to secure a berth for SA wine in the sky on the most professional airline servicing Cape Town.