I first met Fons Aaldering at La Colombe of fond memory in Constantia four years ago. He was launching his wines and tonight we return the favour with an exhibition of his latest vintages at the Pendock Wine Gallery @ Taj. If you’re around, come and meet him at 6.30pm. My wine diary entry from four years ago.

Unexpectedly upgraded to Business Class on the BA-Comair flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg one Monday evening earlier this month, I was faced with one of the impossible dilemmas local captains of industry, off-duty pilots and trolley dollies face on a daily basis: a glass of Chenin or Sauvignon Blanc with the truly excellent squid dinner.

Back in poverty class, meals comes from Woolies and are the best option available on the two hour hop between the Cape and Gauteng. With Johnnie Black available gratis, only a serious wino or teetotaler would ignore the Scottish stuff as liquid refreshment. One of the mysteries of SA tourism is when captive customers are prepared to pay to eat on budget airlines 1Time, Kulula and Mango, why is the selection and quality so poor? Surely this is a golden opportunity for purveyors of roast chicken who are currently rescuing Johannesburg roads (KFC) and political satire (Nandos) while greasy fingerprints are easily wiped off those leather seats, on 1Time at least.

I was Capeside for the launch of the Aaldering portfolio of red wines at a lunch hosted by proprietor Fons Aaldering at La Colombe in Constantia, recently hailed as the 12th best restaurant in the world by San Pellegrino. Mr. Aaldering supplies meals to 70 airlines around the world plus readymades to thousands of supermarkets from eight factories around the planet; a global network of nosh stretching from Thailand to Canada.

We both agreed that while Luke Dale-Roberts’ crisp roasted confit of organic duck leg, foie gras and pickled ginger butter with a hoisin dressing may not work as a readymade, it was best matched by his intense 2007 Pinotage. The herbal 2007 blend of equal measures of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot was a no-brainer for the selection of French cheeses he had specially imported for lunch.

Back on BA, the vintage didn’t help: both offerings were from the 2009 comet vintage. Producer didn’t help either as both hailed from Perdeberg Winery, fast gaining a reputation for delicate aromatic whites sourced from the sexy side of Paarl, i.e. the Paardeberg. In fact Cape Point winemaker Duncan Savage reports they can’t keep up with demand for Splattered Toad Sauvignon Blanc that hails from these hallowed vineyards.

For lunch, I’d enjoyed a bottle of Andre Ostertag’s Riesling Muenchberg Grand Cru 2007 with my Strega pizza (chicken livers and onion) at Posticino in Sea Point, an establishment which inexplicably failed to make the Delicious Dozen of SA’s Top 12 Pizzerias in the in-flight magazine Horizons, even though one entry was the entire Col’Cacchio chain, “countrywide.”

The Ostertag was a glorious autumnal yellow in the glass, orange blossom and minerals on the nose, delicate mango and peach flavours in the mouth with a lingering aftertaste. The vinous double of the Chenin (my eventual in-flight choice) in everything except price. Ostertag Riesling retails in Alsace at around €35 a bottle, while Lawrence Jones, proprietor of the Troyeville Hotel, tells me Perdeberg Chenin is on special at Checkers at R22. “We really must list it as our house white,” says Mr. Jones, “there’s nothing else around to touch it.”