Wine industry icon Dave Hughes dies

Dave Hughes, wine judge, writer and collector, died peacefully last evening at the age of 84. He served in the Rhodesian army and was selected for an officer’s training course at Sandhurst. A Rhodesian swimming champion, he also played provincial waterpolo, hockey and rugby. He was also a marathon veteran, completing the Comrades multiple times.

A temporary job at African Distillers shortly before his departure to Sandhusrt sparked an interest in whisky which led to a distilling apprenticeship – he was soon working his way across the UK and Europe, gaining experience in the production of whisky, wine and many other liquor categories besides.

African Distillers was later bought by SA Breweries, who then owned Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery and this led to Hughes being transferred to Germiston in 1968 to build a bottling plant. From Germiston to Stellenbosch (via what was then Natal) and he shifted from production to marketing. At this point, he took up wine writing, both technical and general, becoming widely published.

Helping people derive more pleasure from wine was close to Hughes’s heart and his discussions with the late Ronnie Melck, then head of SFW, on educating consumers were to find form in the Cape Wine Academy. As a result, Hughes was made one of only three honrary members of the Institute of Cape Wine Masters. He was also a respected wine judge, chairing the International Wine and Spirit Competition for decades. He also played a key role in establishing the authority of Wine magazine’s tasting panels.

Hughes lost his wife Lorna in a car accident last August.