A new day is dawning
In 2016 Jacqueline Aaldering moved to South Africa with her husband Gert-Jan and son Alejandro. Since then they have made up the management team of Aaldering Vineyards & Wines – Luxury Lodges, together with the winemaker. Five years on, founders and owners Marianne and Fons Aaldering decided to take a back seat and leave the day-to-day running of the business to them. They are fully confident that the wonderful company they have built will thrive in the capable hands of their daughter and her family.
D
oes this mean that big changes are afoot? “No actually, not at all,” Jacqueline and Gert-Jan chorus. “There was already an outstanding company and we will keep on developing it to keep it future-proof, together with my parents,” adds Jacqueline. The biggest change in the past year was the move to the manager’s lodge. They found their true home living on the estate and spending their days surrounded by the vines. In Spain Jacqueline and Gert-Jan ran an estate agency. They are very pleased with the way the Aaldering estate has developed since 2007: the modernisation of the wine cellar and the
“NOTHING ESCAPES OUR ATTENTION: THE SOIL, THE VINES, THE NEW OLIVE TREES, THE MAINTENANCE OF THE LODGES, THE WELL-BEING OF OUR STAFF. NOTHING!”
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tasting room, the newly-built entrance gates, the arrival of the three luxury lodges, the manager’s lodge and, more recently, the construction of the maturation cellar and their own new home. Top-quality materials are used in combination with state-of-the art techniques. Quality, the word which is forever on founders Marianne and Fons’ lips. It is also Jacqueline and Gert-Jan’s mantra, literally everywhere and anywhere. “Nothing escapes our attention: the soil, the vines, the new olive trees, the maintenance of the lodges, the well-being of our staff. Nothing!”
