Albie's spirit will live on

CEO, Springfontein Wine Estate

There would be reason enough to say thank you to all of our people, each one of them, after we could successfully finish the 2021 Springfontein harvest at the end of last week.

Today there would have been a tremendous reason to say thank you in particular to one Springfonteiner – Albie du Toit, who joined us more than 20 years ago. Albie planted nearly all of our high-quality, but by far not easy-going, vineyards. When Albie came back three years ago, after travelling the world for nearly 15 years, he still knew each single plant by heart, if not by name.

Albie was always a shining example of and for every Springfonteiner. Not one of us could represent Springfontein’s virtues and values in a better way. Albie was always humble about himself and always proud of the team. He was always most diligent and loyal. He always showed such honesty and had an exceptionally warm heart. He was a most supportive colleague, employee, supervisor and teacher. And for me, a soulmate nearly as much as Tariro Masayiti is a soulmate for me.

Albie is gone as a physical being from our mother Earth. His body was killed in a car accident on Saturday 17 April, early afternoon.

Let his spirit always stay with Springfontein. Let us take not just one leaf out of his book. Let us Springfonteiners greet him every day as he will always live on in our vines, in our wines.