LtoR: Bennie Howard and Elsabé Ferreira (Veritas), Mark Norrish, Altus le Roux, Edmund Lakay, Christo Pienaar (Veritas) and Loftie Ellis
The tradition of annually honouring a handful of industry leaders was continued at this year’s 36th Veritas Awards ceremony, known as the “Oscars of the Wine Industry”, on Saturday 10 October 2026. This award, instituted by the Veritas Awards in 2009, serves as recognition for exemplary service to the industry over the years – acknowledging their commitment and paying homage for remarkable achievements.
Thereby, four luminaries received the 2026 Living Legends Scroll of Honour for their dedication to and enthusiasm and passion for the domestic wine and brandy industries.
LOFTIE ELLIS
Loftie hails from a farm at Oudtshoorn and did research in wine chemistry at Nietvoorbij, following his degree in Viniculture at the University of Stellenbosch.
Then he was a lecturer in Viniculture at Stellenbosch and Elsenburg, with a passion for training. Numerous students were trained by him, while he continuously strove to highlight practical aspects and improving students’ life experience. Loftie mentions that the success and awards received by former students were more important to him than his own achievements.
Over the past 20 years, he ran his own business as Director of Wine Quality Consultants. Here he expressed himself as an outstanding wine consultant and made an extraordinary contribution to the wine industry. His company provides technical advice on all aspects of wine. Its consultation services include:
- Examining wine before bottling
- Identifying wine faults and recommending actions to rectify them
- Arbitration in wine-related disputes
- Expertise inputs for insurance claims
- Expert testimony in litigation
Moreover, Loftie is an authority on Witblits and Mampoer, having served as Chief Judge at the Mampoer Festival for 40 years.
Loftie’s contribution to training and quality is of immeasurable value for the industry and makes him an exceptional legend of our industry.
EDMUND LAKEY
Edmund began his professional journey as a trained teacher, a profession that complemented his natural commitment to education and to helping others learn and grow. In 1993, he made an important career transition, leaving the school classroom to accept the position of Cellar Technical Officer in the Department of Viticulture at Stellenbosch University. What began as a new professional chapter, became an extraordinary 31-year journey of service.
In his role as Cellar Technical Officer, Edmund was responsible for overseeing the cellar activities in the University’s Experimental Cellar, working with stalwarts like Professor Joël Van Wyk, Loftie Ellis and Charl Theron. His primary function was to oversee and support undergraduate and postgraduate students in winemaking activities. This work placed him at the heart of one of the most important aspects of winemaking education: transforming knowledge from the lecture room into practical experience.
For generations of students, the university cellar was not simply a place where wine was made. It was a place where lessons became reality. It was where students learnt to work with precision, discipline, patience, and responsibility. And throughout those years, Edmund was there to guide, demonstrate and advise students to gain the practical experience needed to become competent professionals. He became an educator, mentor and familiar presence in the development of countless young winemakers, many of whom attended the Veritas Gala Dinner.
Over the years, he played a key role in producing wines for Vititec and in developing and maintaining partnerships that connected the university cellar with the broader wine industry.
The true measure of a career such as Edmund’s cannot be captured simply by a job title or the number of years served. It can be seen in the people who benefited from that service. In 2024, after 31 years of dedicated service, Edmund retired from Stellenbosch University, but this did not erase the impact of the many years he spent contributing to viticultural and oenological education which will always be part of his professional legacy. He is a true Legend.
ALTUS LE ROUX
Altus le Roux obtained his Diploma in Cellar Technology at Elsenburg Agricultural College and studied Management Development at the Postgraduate Business School of the University of Stellenbosch. He held several winemaking posts before joining Boland International. Here he expanded the successes of Boland Wines for 17 years as Managing Director. During this time, he served for nine years on the Technical Committee of the Wine and Spirit Board and as Chairperson of Elsenburg’s alumni organisation, known as EKOV, for four years. He was a regular judge for the SA Young Wine Show, Veritas and the SA Terroir Wine Awards.
Winemaking has always been a passion for Altus, not just a career, and he strongly believed in teamwork, ascribing his career highlights to this important management principle.
In 2001, he received the Robert Mondavi Trophy as International Winemaker of the Year at the International Wine & Spirits Competition (IWSC) in London, as well as the Dave Hughes Trophy as the Best South African producer and both trophies for Best Cabernet Sauvignon and Best Shiraz.
Two years later, in 2003, he again receives the Trophy for Best Shiraz at the IWSC. in London.
This was followed in 2005 by the award for Best Overseas Producer and Best Overseas Red Wine at the Mundus Vini Great International Wine Awards. Two years later he was named Best South African Producer by Selections Mondiales des Vins Canada in 2007. He can also write 12 other international trophies and more than 50 gold medals behind his name.
He excelled at the Veritas Awards with 12 Double Gold medals and 13 Gold during the last eight years of his tenure as Managing Director.
At the SA Young Wine show in 2008, Altus received the iconic General Smuts Trophy for his Merlot 2008. He also won the Pietman Hugo Trophy for best producer in both 1999 and 2002. He boasts no less than 12 SA Champions and 68 trophies during his career.
His contribution to the industry will be remembered by his changing of the perception that a co-operative winery can only deliver average quality wines in large volumes, and he succeeded to expose the consumer to good packaging and quality, market-driven wines.
Altus le Roux is a super legend of our industry.
MARK NORRISH
Mark Norrish’s career in South African wine and spirit retail spans four decades.
Mark joined Shoprite Checkers in 1991 as a Grocery Buyer before being appointed in 1992 as National Wine Buyer. Over seven years, he set about making wine a destination category for the Group, initiating the Oddbins wine brand and proving year after year to be the single biggest spender at both the Nederburg and Cape Wine Guild auctions.
After periods with Engen Quick Shops and Picardi Rebel Wines, Mark returned to national wine buying in 2007 as National Wine General Manager of Ultra Liquors, a role he would hold for 13 years. There, he repeated “the trick”: under his direction, and Ultra’s wine offering grew from a minor sideline into a recognised destination for value-conscious South African wine drinkers.
In 2010, he initiated the Secret Cellar and Top Secret ranges, brands that went on to collect a string of Trophies, Gold medals and Double Gold awards in national wine competitions – living up to their promise of being “small on pocket, big on palate”. He helped blending and worked hands-on with the winemaking teams on both Oddbins and Secret Cellar.
His own cellar became something of a gathering place, where he hosted tasting evenings for winemakers still finding their feet, among them a young Eben Sadie and Adi Badenhorst, long before either name became synonymous with exceptional South African wine.
Mark also took up a long-standing role as a judge on numerous South African wine panels, including many years on the Veritas panels.
Advice that stayed with him the longest came early, from a fellow judge: “It takes the producer many years to create that wine, so please give it more than just a couple of minutes when you judge it.”
This philosophy has guided not only his judging, but how he spent 40 years building categories – and a dedicated community – with his super passion for wine, patience, curiosity, and a refusal to settle for the ordinary.
His contribution to the wine industry and the very important task of getting consumers to buy wine is highly appreciated and makes him a true legend of our industry.
ENDS
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Contact Bennie Howard, Chairman Marketing Committee or Elsabe Ferreira, General Manager
