Originally from Port Elizabeth, Liezl Richards began her career in the corporate world but quickly realised her true calling lay in the world of wine.
After graduating from the University of Port Elizabeth with a BA in Media and Communications, Liezl worked for Goodyear, but found the corporate environment soul-destroying.
When she was 23 years old, she moved to Durban and her first job in the wine industry was as sales representative for Meridian Wines for four years. She met her husband Warren, also a passionate wine drinker and collector, at the Veritas Awards function, and later resigned to get married and go travelling with him.
Upon their return to South Africa, he pushed her to pursue further studies in wine by doing the diploma course and later her CWM studies.
She also started her own wine agency, Wine Whispers, representing Kershaw, Paul Wallace, Meinert, Remhoogte, Gabriëlskloof, and Crystallum.
In 2019 Gabriëlskloof asked her to move to the Overberg to handle their local sales. She is currently their national sales manager and export manager.
Together with her husband, they also extended the Wine Whispers agency in the local Overberg trade and they now represent Gabriëlskloof, Crystallum, Momento, and Creation. They live on the farm where Crystallum and Creation grow some of their grapes in the Hemel-en-Aarde valley.
Liezl qualified as a Cape Wine Master in 2024. Her dissertation was titled "Unveiling the Grapevine: Exploring Growth Opportunities for the South African Wine Industry in Scandinavia".