Lunch yesterday with Edward Snell chairman Dave Hooper at Ed Hung’s South China Dim Sum Bar (below) in Long Street, Cape Town. The joint was hoppin’ and Ed is a big fan of Cape brandy which is a great match with dim sum. Ed’s favourite was the 14 year old Oude Molen VOV in spite of prompting from Dave for the Solera. Dave would much rather call his VOV an XO and embrace the nomenclature of Cognac.

On that note, as a curator for the World Design Capital 2014 project which sees the Mother City thrust onto the global design stage next year, I suggested a brandy dinner at the Castle in 2014 with the new King of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander and his Queen Maxima, invited as guests of honour. After all, the Dutch invented the stuff and called it brandwijn – burnt wine – and distilled the first batch on De Pijl, a ship of the VOC at anchor in Table Bay, back in 1672.

KLM, as successors to the VOC, should be invited to fly his majesty south for the party and the event would be an unbeatable showcase for KWV and Distell to show off their old spirit and to launch the China-South Africa wine and brandy route being put together by the China/SA Wine Friendship Association and the Brandy Brotherhood.

The Brandy Brotherhood is a club for brandy lovers based on Keepers of the Quaich founded in 1988 by James Espey, a SACS oldboy who was variously chairman of Chivas Regal and global head of marketing at the forerunners to Diageo. James received an OBE from Queen Elizabeth II last week for services to whisky and as the inventor of Carafino and the aspirational whisky category, must be hot favourite to open the Nederburg Auction this year.

Cape brandy lovers will be hoping Willem-Alexander has similar Dutch bling to bring to a Brandy Design Dinner @ Het Kasteel de Goede Hoop which could easily become party of the year. Brandy Baron has a nice ring to it.