Platter’s Wine Guide has revealed the recipients of its sought-after and esteemed Pinnacle Awards – the Wineries of the Year, Wines of the Year and Five Star Wines – who are featured in its 2023 edition.
The announcement was made at the launch of the top-selling and collectible hardback guide, featuring a striking cover design, the first with a mainly white background with rose-gold embellishments.
The new-look hardcover was introduced at a bespoke function in Stellenbosch on Thursday 17 November 2022. The digital version of Platter’s, available on the apps for iOS/Apple and Android, and on the website www.wineonaplatter.com, was launched at the same event.
This 43rd edition of South Africa’s favourite wine guide features well over 900 producers, merchants and brands, including 37 new ones, and more than 8 000 locally produced wines as well as brandies, husk spirits and sherry-style wines.
A highlight of any new edition is the trio of prestigious Winery of the Year awards, the highest accolades bestowed by Platter’s. The Top Performing Winery of the Year goes to the winery that achieves the most five-star ratings after the annual final tasting round. This year the worthy recipient is Mullineux, with an astonishing run of eight five-star results. This is the stellar Swartland-based venture’s fifth time as Platter’s highest achiever, having been best-performing winery in 2014, 2016, 2019 and 2020.
The Editor’s Award Winery of the Year recognises a wine growing individual or team who, based on performance in the current edition as well as their track record, are ambassadors par excellence for South African wine. This year the award goes to Cape Winemakers Guild member Duncan Savage and his Cape Town boutique winery Savage Wines. Last year Savage Wines achieved a remarkable seven five-star ratings. An amazing five such rankings this year once again proved Savage’s consistency as a trailblazer and undoubtedly one of the Cape’s foremost winemakers.
The Newcomer Winery of the Year is awarded to the producer who debuts in Platter’s this year and achieves the highest scores. The well-deserved recipient of this distinction is Trade Winds Wine, owned by friends and long-time serious wine aficionados Martin Voigt and Richard Wells, with a brilliant five-star Cabernet Sauvignon blended by Colin Frith, an honorary Cape Wine Master and one of the most experienced men-about-the-winelands.
Wines receiving the sought-after five-star rating in Platter’s must undergo a rigorous process of sighted and blind assessment (ie with and without sight of the label) by a team of experienced experts. Bottlings that are judged to be “Superlative, a South African classic” are given the highest ranking of five stars, equal to 95 points or better on the 100-point rating scale.
Of the 5-star-awarded wines, the top performers within each category receive the coveted accolade, Wines of the Year. This time there are 26 category winners.
With 28 five stars, Chenin Blanc continues its remarkable performance of recent years and, in a significant development, now not only equals the number of five-star Red Blends, but also surpasses the White Blends category’s 21 maximum ratings.
Together, however, the Blended class (Red and White) remains a powerhouse of quality, responsible for a quarter of all the five-star ratings.
Another category building on an improved base is Chardonnay, adding three 95+ ratings to last year’s 19. Other strong performers are Shiraz/Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon, with 16 and 12 wines respectively.
Reflected in the five-star line-up are many of the key trends shaping South African wine today, such as the revival and reinterpretation of traditional varieties, such as Cinsault and Semillon, and adoption of heat-tolerant varieties such as Grenache Noir, red wines with lighter textures and lower alcohol, clay and concrete vessels as alternatives to oak for ferment and/or ageing, and ‘deconstruction’, where different sites and even clones of the same grape variety are bottled separately.
“Another relatively recent development mirrored in the ratings is the release of minuscule special bottlings of an experimental nature,” says Philip van Zyl, managing director and editor of Platter’s, “sometimes literally one barrel, intended to explore a particular grape variety, site and/or wine growing technique, or sometimes simply express the winemakers’ personality or vision.
“It’s always a pleasure to see new names make their debut in the guide at the highest levels of quality and established ones achieve their first Platter’s five-star rating.
“South Africa continues to impress wine lovers and collectors around the world with its outstanding quality, along with diversity, character and interest. The fact that many pinnacle wines in our guide are tagged as good value is a massive plus for consumers in challenging economic times.
“We are delighted and very proud of our line-up and would like to take the opportunity to congratulate all the producers on their stellar achievement.”
Also noteworthy are the 291 Highly Recommended wines and brandies, which narrowly missed five stars but are nonetheless extremely fine and collectable, earning a rating of 94 on the 100-point scale.
Philip van Zyl continues: “The guide’s descriptions and ratings, compiled in association with a team of leading experts, make it easy to find the right wine for any occasion, while the good-value indicators highlight those bottlings which are especially budget friendly across all quality levels.
“Red and white wines showing potential for cellaring are flagged by means of the Cellar Worthy icon, while wines which tasters feel are particularly worthy of note, being interesting, attractive, unique or representative of an important trend are highlighted with the Hidden Gems icon.
“This edition, we are very pleased to be reintroducing the Superquaffers, wines that we feel are exceptionally drinkable and well-priced. These uber-affordable and easy-drinking bottlings are identified by the smiley-faced icon.”
Platter’s 2023 also packs extensive information on where to go and what to do in wine country. Cellar-door tasting options are covered in detail, along with many winery amenities, attractions and activities, plus dining and accommodation in Cape Town and the winelands. Easy-to-use maps and quick look-up tables provide invaluable help for visitors planning their own wineland rambles, while listings of specialised wine tour operators offer a variety of alternatives for those who prefer a guided experience.
Fully updated notes on the major wine growing regions, grape varieties, winemaking styles, wine tasting terms, and the major wine competitions and awards as well as listings of wine educators countrywide form part of a wide-ranging offering.
As always, the guide is prefaced by an insightful and thought-provoking overview of important developments and trends in South Africa and the wider wine world.
Platter’s 2023 hardcover is available from selected bookstores and retailers nationwide from the end of November 2022. The recommended retail price is R399,00 inclusive of VAT.
To view the list of five-star wines online, visit www.wineonaplatter.com/blog/news
