 The Wine Industry On A Platter
Platter's Wine Guide, South Af rica's leading wine annual and one of its perennial best-selling book titles, turns 30 in November this year with the unveiling of the 2010 edition.
To mark this significant milestone, they're taking the guide's traditional strengths - and updating it, to increase its appeal to everyone from the novice wine drinker to the connoisseur.
 The John Platter South African Wine Guide is the most comprehensive, up-to-date and authoritative chronicle of who's who and what's what in South African wine country. It packs everything you need to know about the South African wine scene into an informative and entertaining pocket book. The guide's annual editions introduce hundreds of new wines, cellars and directions, as well as culinary, recreational and touristic hotspots throughout the Cape winelands.
Platter's Guide is the market leader and the leading resource for a wide variety of readers including wine aficionados, tourists, members of the drinks trade as well as consumers seeking guidance on which wines to buy, what estates to visit, and where to eat and stay in the winelands.
The Guide's combination of wine knowledge and news journalism makes it more than just a trusted wine adviser: it's also a chronicle of who's who and what's what in the world of SA wine.
Record 41 five-star wines for 2010 Platter’s South African Wine Guide!
Echoing the stellar 2009 grape harvest, Platter’s South African Wine Guide, the country’s leading wine annual, has produced its own bumper crop in the form of a record 41 five-star wines. This follows a blind tasting by the assembled Platter’s tasting team of potential five-star wines for the 2010 edition, nominated by individual members during their sampling of South Africa’s wines over the past two months.
Now in its 30th year, Platter's is the definitive guide to who's who and what's what in South African wine, with comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of most currently available brands, as well as wine cellars, winelands restaurants and accommodation, tourist attractions and more.
The guide strives to taste, rate and describe as many as possible South African-made wines available locally and overseas during the currency of the particular edition. For the 2010 book, nearly 6 000 individual wines are featured. Responsible for this mammoth task is an experienced team (supported by an equally large back-room staff), who graded the wines according to the guide's five-star scale, ranging from zero ('Somewhat less than ordinary') to five stars ('Superlative. A Cape classic').
In the course of this year's evaluations, a record 105 candidate five-stars were identified, across a variety of categories, including reds and whites, dessert wines and port styles. Only bottled wines, available during the currency of the guide, were considered.
Publisher Andrew McDowall extended congratulations to all the five-star winegrowers, to the makers of the balance of the five-star contenders whose names will be unveiled with the book launch in November, and to those who produced the two Wines of the Year (this year it was decided to make awards for both a white and a red wine). The guide’s Winery of the Year award will also be announced in November, along with the name of the 'Superquaffer' of the Year - the wine judged to be the most drinkable and well-priced of all the entry-level bottlings tasted for the current edition.
Analysing the results of the 2010 five-star wines, McDowall said: ‘The best-performing categories this year were that of Sauvignon Blanc and Bordeaux-style Red Blends, with five wines in each. Four categories offered up four five-star wines each – Bordeaux-Style White Blends, White Blends, Shiraz and Unfortified Dessert Wines – while the Port-Style category has three five-stars. Of the white categories, Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay yielded one and three five-stars respectively, while Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Red Blends offered two apiece, and Grenache and Pinotage one each.
‘There are several producers who featured more than once in the line-up this year: Boplaas Family Vineyards, Cape Point Vineyards, Distell – with five-stars for wines from its Fleur du Cap and Nederburg brands, and Sadie Family Wines. In addition to its five-stars in the Sauvignon Blanc and Bordeaux-Style Red Blends categories, retail chain Woolworths notched up two further five-stars, giving a total of four.
‘Heartiest congratulations must go to the two wines that were voted Wine of the Year by the judges: Palladius 2008 from Sadie Family Wines, our White Wine of the Year, and the Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2005 from Le Riche Wines, the year’s top red. Both Eben Sadie and Etienne le Riche are much admired, locally and abroad, for their commitment and passion, and we are delighted to recognise them and their teams in this manner,’ said McDowall.
A selection of the five-star wines will be shown to the European wine trade and consumers at the South African Mega Tasting in London during October.
White Wine of the Year
- Sadie Family Palladius 2008
Red Wine of the Year
- Le Riche Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2005
Sauvignon Blanc
- Fleur du Cap Sauvignon Blanc Unfiltered 2009
- Lomond Pincushion Sauvignon Blanc 2009
- Tokara Elgin Sauvignon Blanc 2008
- Woolworths Cape Point Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc Limited Release 2009
- Cape Point Vineyards CWG Auction Reserve Barrel Fermented Sauvignon Blanc 2008
White blends – Bordeaux style
- Woolworths Steenberg Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon Reserve 2009
- Cape Point Vineyards Isliedh 2008
- The Berrio Wines Weather Girl 2008
- Vergelegen White 2008
Chenin Blanc
- Beaumont Hope Marguerite Chenin Blanc 2008
White Blends
- Nederburg Ingenuity White 2008
- Rall 2008
- Sadie Family Palladius 2008
- Woolworths Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards Spectrum White Limited Release 2008
Chardonnay
- Ataraxia Chardonnay 2008
- Chamonix Chardonnay Reserve 2008
- Paul Cluver Chardonnay 2008
Pinot Noir
- Newton Johnson Domaine Pinot Noir 2008
- Catherine Marshall Pinot Noir 2008
Grenache
- Neil Ellis Vineyard Selection Grenache 2007
Pinotage
- Beyerskloof Diesel Pinotage 2007
Red Blends
- Sadie Family Columella 2007
- Spier Frans K. Smit 2005
Shiraz
- Dunstone Shiraz 2008
- Haskell Vineyards Pillars Shiraz 2007
- Rustenberg Stellenbosch Syrah 2007
- Saxenburg Shiraz Select Limited Release 2005
Red Blends – Bordeaux Style
- De Trafford Perspective 2006
- Kanonkop Paul Sauer 2006
- Morgenster Estate Morgenster 2006
- Stony Brook Ghost Gum 2006
- Woolworths Jordan Cobblers Hill Classic 2005
Cabernet Sauvignon
- Boekenhoutskloof Cabernet Sauvignon 2007
- Le Riche Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2005
Port
- Boplaas Cape Vintage Reserve Port 2007
- De Krans Cape Tawny Port NV
- Boplaas Cape Tawny Port 1997
Unfortified Dessert Wine
- Buitenverwachting 1769 2007
- Fleur du Cap Noble Late Harvest 2008
- Nederburg Winemaster's Reserve Noble Late Harvest 2008
- Mullineux Family Straw Wine 2008
Hot news off the press
....there are 13 Stellenbosch five-star wines in the 2010 edition of the Platter Wine Guide. The red wine of the year is the Le Riche Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2005!
The other 12 five star wines from Stellenbosch are :
- Fleur du Cap Sauvignon Blanc Unfiltered 2009
- Vergelegen White 2008
- Neil Ellis Vineyard Selection Grenache 2007
- Beyerskloof Diesel Pinotage 2007
- Spier Frans K Smit 2005
- Haskell Vineyards Pillars Shiraz 2007
- Rustenberg Stellenbosch Syrah 2007
- Saxenburg Shiraz Select Limited Release 2005
- De Trafford Perspective 2006
- Kanonkop Paul Sauer 2006
- Morgenster Estate Morgenster 2006
- Fleur du Cap Noble Late Harvest 2008
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