Veritas Awards initiated the "Living Legends" award in 2009 to honour those who have served the wine industry over the years; to acknowledge their commitment and pay homage to their significant contributions to the industry.
Following his recognition as the 1659 Visionary Leader earlier this year at the Wine Harvest Celebration, DGB's executive chairman, Tim Hutchinson, has been honoured as a “Living Legend” by Veritas.
Hutchinson was humbled by the recognition and paid tribute to his team; “I really appreciate this accolade, and it is wonderful to receive recognition from my peers in the industry. Awards like this pay tribute to the amazing role the DGB team has played in contributing towards the growth and development of the industry, both locally and internationally”.
Tim’s career in wine began 39 years ago when he joined Douglas Green of Paarl. Over his extensive career he has successfully built DGB into South Africa’s leading premium wine producer, of which he is a shareholder.
Today DGB owns a venerable portfolio of wineries which include Boschendal, Bellingham, Backsberg, Fryers Cove, Old Road Wine Co, Brampton, Franschhoek Cellar and Douglas Green and has recently invested in Avontuur in Stellenbosch.
DGB has had a long-term commitment to their strategy of driving the premium sector of South African wine and under Tim’s leadership has invested in significant vineyard properties in some of the most unique and sought after terroir in South Africa. Their vineyard sites are carefully selected and include a particular focus on their 130 hectares in the Helderberg in Stellenbosch as well as fine white wine vineyards in Elgin. True to DGB’s innovative paradigm they are also the only growers in the Bamboes Bay and the Koo Plateau wards. Today DGB works with 317 different vineyard blocks and 71 different grower partners across 24 varieties and is the largest producer of wine from Certified Heritage Vineyards.
Now with offices in the UK, Holland, Germany, Canada, USA, Hong Kong and Dubai the DGB of today has been completely transformed from the Douglas Green of Paarl Tim joined at the start of his career. It was under Tim’s guidance that these international offices were established with the vision to create a permanent presence for DGB brands amongst buyers and consumers in the over 90 countries they export to.
These years of working the global market culminated in DGB being awarded the “Best South African Producer” at the worlds largest wine trade fair, Prowein, by Mundus Vini for the 3rd year running. Tim has always been fully committed to the environment and this is reflected in DGB being an industry leader in quality standards and environmental initiatives with all of their wines being IPW and WIETA certified. Today, DGB is the only drinks business in South Africa which has the “Big 5” quality accreditations, has the largest solar installation in the Cape Winelands, has 3 bio-reactor water treatment plants, its own bamboo farm in the Eastern Cape which offsets carbon emissions, is a shareholder in “The Glass Recycling Company” and has successfully made Backsberg the first fully verified Carbon Neutral winery in South Africa by PAS 2060:2014.
This is supported by DGB’s long-term commitment to transformation, empowerment and community upliftment which is evident in their Level 4 B-BBEEE contributor status. The multiple benefactors of the DGB charitable trust, which has a clear bias to formative childhood development initiatives in specific underprivileged and economically depressed communities where DGB operates, are as much a part of their responsibility as the fine wines they produce.
Over the span of over 39 years, Tim has helped build DGB into a market leader within the fine wine landscape in a sustainable, responsible and ethical way.