VERITAS 2022

11 LIVING LEGENDS 2022

His first column appeared in the Financial Mail in 1976 and in the Rand Daily Mail (later Business Day) in 1980. In the 80s, he became the wine consultant to Sotheby’s, thereby acting as the advisor for the first Cape Independent Winemakers’ Guild sales. In 1989, he sold Constantia Negociants and focused on consulting and writing after co-authoring the Conspiracy of Giants book, his Penguin Book of South African Wine followed in the early 1990s. In 1994, he took over the SAA wine selection and continued managing the process until 2001. Meanwhile, he had been judging wine – for Diners Club, Veritas, Australian Capital and other shows over many years – in addition to competitions in the USA, Chile, France and the UK. He was the first international co-chairman of the International Wine Challenge in the UK in 2007. In 1996 he was honoured by the French Government with the award Chevalier de l’Ordre de Merite Agricole. He later acted for the Minister of Agriculture in the negotiations leading to the creation of the SA Wine Industry Trust under his chairmanship. In 2000, he took over the Business Day Wine Festival and transformed it into the highly successful WineX and in 2002 launched the Trophy Wine Show in partnership with Wine Magazine. In 2007, he became Visiting Professor of Wine Business at the UCT Graduate School of Business. In 2020, Fridjhon partnered in an enterprise called Vinosphere Inc to enhance the presence of Cape wine in the USA. As a professional and highly skilled wine taster, one of the finest wine journalists in the world, accomplished public speaker and ambassador for South African wine, we have pleasure to present the Wine Legend Scroll to Michael. JOHANN KRIGE Johann Krige is a Stellenbosch product through and through. He was born on Kanonkop, spent his school years at Paul Roos Gimnasium and thereafter completed his studies at the University of Stellenbosch – obtaining his BA LLB degree, as well as an MBA at the US. As a wine farmer’s son, a career in the wine world was a natural path for him. He first acquired knowledge in KWV’s legal department before returning to Kanonkop. While taking over the reins at Kanonkop as fourth generation owner, he also did pioneering work in the industry. Johann was a board member of Wosa for 27 years, occupying the chairman’s seat for a term. During this time, he was also involved with Vinpro for 15 years and acted as vice-chairman. He was also elected as member of the KWV Board, where he played a key role with major changes. Also in the Stellenbosch Wine Route Association, where he proved his mettle as chairperson over a lengthy period. His versatility also led to him being appointed as vice-chairman of Sawis, a cornerstone organisation of the wine industry. He was also chosen as a trustee by SAWIT (SA Wine Industry Trust) and the Cape Wine Makers’ Guild Trust. He was also a board member of Swartland Cellar. With his vision to position Kanonkop as one of South Africa’s foremost wineries, Johann as director and CEO and his team at Kanonkop makes the spot-on decisions and he and his winemakers rake in awards worldwide. He can justifiably be proud that Kanonkop takes its place alongside the big names in the wine industry worldwide. During his term, Kanonkop clinched