Veronica Plaatjies, a waitron at Sun International’s The Maslow hotel in Sandton, is making her mark as one of the top wine tasters in Gauteng. She recently competed in the Gauteng leg of The South African Wine Tasting Championship and was ranked in the top ten. She was also acknowledged as the Best Gauteng performer for the Mosaic Restaurant Protégé Programme.
This takes Veronica one step closer to her dream of being mentored by South Africa’s top sommelier. Part of the South African Wine Tasting Championship 2015, the Mosaic bursary for a Protégé will offer a young emerging professional three years fully paid learnership at Restaurant Mosaic, working alongside Chef of the Year Chantel Dartnall and sommelier Germain Lehodey.
Preselected at the South African Wine Tasting Championship, the Protégé selected by Mosaic Restaurant will receive the necessary formal education required to achieve the best professional knowledge, whilst gaining the necessary exposure to the industry and being mentored by the most experienced South African sommelier. Furthermore, the Protégé selected by Mosaic will have a seat in Team South Africa and will fly the national colours in France at the World Blind Challenge in October 2015.
Plaatjies now has to wait for the scores from the other provincial championships held in the Cape on in June and in Durban at the end of August to find out if she will be the one to win the Mosaic Restaurant Protégé Programme bursary.
Plaatjies joined The Maslow two years ago. During her time there, she has grabbed every opportunity afforded to her to hone her skills. She has obtained level one and level two certificates in wines from the Wine and Education Trust of London, and passed her level three tasting with distinction. She has also received a certificate in guest service (Gold) from the American Hotel and Lodging Educational institute. Recently, she was chosen for a food and beverage learnership through the International Hotel School.
“We are immensely proud of Veronica and what she has achieved in the past two years that she has been with us. She has a natural talent for wine tasting and is focused and passionate about enhancing her knowledge and skills. While we wouldn’t like to lose her, we understand that winning the Mosaic Restaurant Protégé is an excellent opportunity for her to further her career. We are holding thumbs for Veronica,” says The Maslow’s general manager, Johan Scheepers.
