The day after the 9/11 Twin Tower outrage, Le Monde headlined “we’re all Americans now.” When I saw Dutch PM Mark Rutte react with cold fury and measured outrage to the MH17 calamity, I felt a little bit Dutch. And now wonder why can’t SA wine be a little more Dutch? After all, it was a Dutchman who brought the first vines to the Cape and some of the most wonderful SA brands have a romantic Dutch history.

I’m talking of Druk My Niet, Vleermuisklip, Naby and Vergelegen, Steenberg and Groot Constantia. So what if Americans can’t pronounce Buitenverwachting or Vergenoegd, is that really any reason to substitute with confusing replacements such as Beyond or Satisfied which sound like brands of cigarettes?

In my days when I could afford to buy French wine I would choose the most exotic sounding monikers: Chasse Spleen, Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande and the like and even though I got an “A” for French in Matric, I’m sure my pronunciation was execrable. How many wine snobs can corretly pronounce Moët, anyway?

Brandy marketers are in full flight from their Dutch past. The face of Oude Meester is a black UK actor. Van Ryn is served with ginger beer and called an urban cocktail and new brands like Collisons are closer to collision in spelling and the packaging is slick Euro trash for a wonderful product.

Which is one of the reasons we’re celebrating the wines of Fons and Marianne Aaldering for the month of August in our Wine Gallery. If you’re intrigued to see what the Dutch have been up to in Devon Valley for the past decade, do come to our opening on Thursday night.