VERITAS 2021

8 VERITAS AWARDS 2021

VERITAS PAYS HOMAGE TO LEADING INDUSTRY FIGURES

The tradition of annually honouring a handful of industry leaders took place at this year’s 31st Veritas Awards ceremony on Saturday 6 November. This award serves as recognition for exemplary service to the industry over the years – acknowledging their commitment and paying homage for remarkable achievements. Thereby seven luminaries received the 2021 Living Legends Scroll of Honour for their dedication to and enthusiasm and passion for the local wine and brandy industries. KOWIE DU TOIT Kowie du Toit, a veteran of 50 harvests and still going strong, is one of only a few winemakers that can raise their glass to such longevity. Kowie hails from Rawsonville. He spent three years studying under the guidance of Stellenbosch University’s Prof Orffer at Welgevallen and Elsenburg where he worked on many of the crossings initiated by the legendary professor. He joined Simonsvlei Winery in 1970 where he fine-tuned his wine making skills under the watchful eye of Oom Sarel Rossouw, a doyen of young wine maker training. Here Kowie specialised in making Chenin blanc wines. In 1973 he moved to Vlottenburg Cellar (today Stellenbosch Hills) where he spent 30 years as manager/winemaker, creating quality wines for this well- known cellar. During his time at Vlottenburg he followed in the footsteps of Oom Sarel and continued to train many new young winemakers. From 2004 he concentrated on his consulting business, making wine for a number of clients at various cellars. He joined the wine making team at Taaibosch Cellar outside Somerset West in 2018, while working at Pink Valley rose wines as well. CELIA GILLOWAY Celia’s journey in the wine industry began in 1999 as office administrator at WINE magazine, a Ramsay Son & Parker publication. A few months later she took over as tasting co-ordinator and over the next 12 years she became the stalwart responsible for organising and running the monthly wine category and new release tastings. This included the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show started by WINE magazine and Michael Fridjhon, as well as many other wine competitions.