Cape Winemakers Guild member, Adi Badenhorst, presented Sheriff with a crystal wine decanter emblazoned with the CWG emblem at the formal ceremony to acknowledge her exemplary contribution and support of the South African wine industry throughout her career.
Originally from Cape Town, this former winemaker and hotel school graduate who trained in Stellenbosch, Germany and France, has considerable international experience to bring to her one-year term as chairperson of the London-based wine institute. Sheriff holds a South African Cape Wine Masters (CWM) qualification as well as the international Master of Wine (MW) qualification and is a former director of the Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Academy.
She was also one of the first two South Africans to earn her international MW in 1993. Since the institute initiated inaugural exams in 1953, only 280 Masters of Wine qualifications have been granted, which is an average of fewer than five graduates a year with these credentials.
