Granny Dracs - so-named by her grandchildren - is hailed by the Vellers as the family matriarch, granddaughter of the South African Reserve Bank's first deputy governor HC Jorissen (after whom Johannesburg's Jorissen Street is named). Christine Ellis Williams essentially raised five children on her own in genteel St James on the False Bay coast.
'I've always thought Bernhard would actually have preferred to be married to my mother,' teases Peta. They adored each other and shared a love of journeying everywhere by car, neither able to resist the incredible temptation of turning down every road less travelled.'
Bernhard describes her simply as 'a wonderful woman'. 'We got on like a house on fire. When she came via Johannesburg on her trips to Australia to visit Peta's sister, she'd always stay with us.
She smoked like a chimney and, always keen on company, she'd buy me a pack and insist I join her. "Come on, dahling!" she'd say, and we'd light up and drink in the other hand, chat into the early hours of the morning.'
When the Vellers came to the Cape for their summer holidays, Granny Dracs and her son-in-law would go off to Newlands for the traditional New Year's Day Western Province vs Northern Transvaal cricket clash.
'Together with the rest of the Members Stand, we would get happily sozzled on G&Ts, watch a bit of cricket, have some lunch, doze off for a while, and at the end of the day feel like we had just had the most fabulous colonial experience.'
Her much-loved memory lives on in Nitída's two sparkling wines: the Matriarch and Matriarch in Red. The former is a traditional Cap Classique made from chardonnay and pinot noir. The latter is a pioneering and still rare local rendition of a red Cap Classique from shiraz, a style popularised by the Aussies and picked up on a family trip Down Under.
The Vellers like to say how each embodies some of the characteristics of this vibrant grande dame: elegant and gracious; strong and tenacious.
Peta and Bernhard treasure the family heirlooms left to them by Granny Dracs: from the old Copenhagen set of blue crockery to the elegant Dutch silverware to a solid brass antique bank name-plate bearing the name Jorissen.
Each one tells a story, as does the gleaming walnut cabinet that reputedly travelled up from the Cape to Pretoria with Peta's great-grandmother on the back of an ox- wagon in the 1800s.
Barbecued beef sirloin with three spontaneous salads recipe by Bernhard Veller....
Roast herbed chicken and Mediterranean vegetables on ciabatta with potato salad recipe by Bernhard Veller....