Bennie Howard (Veritas), Jan Booysen, Charles Hopkins (Veritas), Henk Bruwer and Riaan Kruger
Photographer: Lionel Besterfield
It has become customary for Veritas to
annually highlight the contribution of a handful of industry giants. The
Veritas legends are invariably men and women who have retired and whose
dedication and enthusiasm has led to the promotion and growth of the local wine
and brandy industries.
“Veritas choose to honour living legends
with this special award to thank them for their unfailing commitment to the
industry,” says Charles Hopkins, chairman of the SANWSA. “The growth of the
industry relies on more than wine makers and viticulturists and we like to
applaud the greats who have made their mark for the duration of their careers.”
This year five people were nominated to
receive the 2013 scroll of honour during the 23rd Veritas Awards
ceremony: Jan Booysen, Henk Bruwer, Riaan Kruger, Wouter Pienaar and Matthee
van Schalkwyk.
Although Jan Booysen’s career started as
researcher, he soon found himself employed as the manager of extension services
at KWV, serving on the senior management of KWV for three years from 1993 to
1996. He was also the President of the SA Society of Oenology and Viticulture
for two years. In 1996 he joined
VinPro as the manager of Consultation Services and was soon after appointed as
the Executive Director of Winetech until 2012. He continues to represent the SA
wine industry in the International Office of Vine and Wine and has been
appointed as Qualified Personality (Technical Advisor to the OIV President) at
the OIV until 2015.
Henk Bruwer, owner of the De Hoop
farm in Riebeek Kasteel since 1971, has served on the board of directors of
various wine industry institutions since the early 80’s. He has been a director
of the Riebeek Wine Cellar for 30 years – 17 of which he acted as
chairperson. He was the executive
chairperson of the Wine Cellars of South Africa organisation for the past 9
years and served on various other wine industry committees, boards and
institutions.
Riaan Kruger started his career in
1976 as legal advisor for the KWV. He shared his knowledge with the SA Liquor Brand owners
Association (SALBA) for 34 years
as their CEO. Riaan was co-founder of the Industry Association for Responsible
Alcohol Use (ARA) and served on their managing committee for a quarter of a
century. He was also
instrumental in the creation of WOSA, SAWIS and Winetech and still serve as the
chairperson of SAWIS. He was the first
person who negotiated with the unions regarding wages when unions were
legalised in this industry.
Wouter Pienaar was employed as
microbiologist, senior wine buyer and cellar master at Stellenbosch Farmers
Winery for 38 years. During his career he served on the executive committee of
the SA Society of Oenology & Viticulture for 10 years – two of which as
President. Wouter has been
acting as judge at various SA wine shows since 1965 and is still an active wine
judge. Since his retirement,
wineries in Spain, Turkey, Hungary and Portugal and various local cellars have
benefitted from his expertise as wine consultant.
Matthee van Schalkwyk’s contribution
towards the improvement of the wine quality of Oranje River Wine Cellars has
made him a legend in his own right. As chief manager in
charge of production, technical planning, quality control and marketing for
more than 45 years, Matthee has made great inroads in the creation of high
quality products in an area that was traditionally seen as ideal only for
distilling wine. Today this cellar wins
numerous awards locally and internationally. He also initiated the creation of
the Oranje-Vaal Wine Show Association and acted as the chairperson of the
show’s technical committee.
Visit www.veritas.co.za for more information
or contact Elsabe Ferreira at 021 863 1599, fax 021 863 1552 or via email
to admin@veritas.co.za.
