FOR AN UPDATE of all the organic wines produced in South Africa that are officially certified as such, click here. Below are those from the Cape that received good to very good reviews from the top panels of experts in 2023. There are numerous winemakers and viticulturists who adhere to organic or biodynamic methods in the vineyard and cellar but
WHAT WERE the odds! Okay, so the 2019 wasn’t quite the maiden vintage of Beyerskloof’s Eerste Ry Cab – the 2018 and 2019 were released together. Nevertheless, like a front row forward earning his Springbok blazer, the achievement of being the most highly rated Cabernet Sauvignon in the 2024 edition of Platter’s South African Wine Guide ahead of Cabs that
2018 is the eighth vintage of Babylonstoren’s Cap Classique. How time flies! The bottle-fermented sparkler has a good track record and this year could be the best to date. It’s certainly got off to an impressive start, released five years after harvest, gaining in complexity. Not just 5 Stars in the 2024 edition of Platter’s SA Wine Guide but, at
THERE are SIX producers in various parts of the Cape winelands who are most applauded in the 2024 edition of Platter’s South African Wine Guide. Congratulations to The Sadie Family outside Malmesbury, Platter’s Winery of the Year, to Bosman Family Vineyards of Wellington and the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde outside Hermanus, recipient of The Editor’s Award, as well as to those producers
THE SWARTLAND Survivor Pinotage had impressed for quite a while before the appointment of Pierre Wahl as cellarmaster in January 2022. So much to look forward to in due course with ‘The Pope of Pinotage’ now in charge. After four years at the Friedman family’s Môreson cellar in Franschhoek, followed by 20 years at Neville Dorrington’s Rijk’s wine estate in
WELL HOW about that! Following the announcement of the “pinnacle” awards in Platter’s 2023 South African Wine Guide and still in advance of the 744-page printed version becoming available, the publishers have divulged the scores of the 8000-plus wines reviewed in this, the 43rd edition of the book retailing at R399. Whereas at first we were told the names of
ANNOUNCED in advance of the book going on sale at retail stores around 10 December, the award winners showcased in the 2023 edition of Platter’s South African Wine Guide include 26 Wines of the Year and 196 Five Star laureates. To achieve a 5 Star rating requires a score of 95 or higher on a 100-point scale, involving a team
YOU CAN COUNT the number of today’s Top Cape Vintage Port producers on one hand… Okay, maybe two. It’s very specialist, very niche, but very good. One or two in Stellenbosch, one or two in Paarl and Wellington, plus a few in various other districts, however it’s Calitzdorp that has been the Port Capital of South Africa for several decades
THE 2020 VINTAGE of Neil Ellis’s Whitehall Chardonnay had only been on the market for a few months when it was included among the Top 4 in Winemag‘s 2021 South African Chardonnay Report. By the end of the year it had been Highly Recommended in Platter‘s SA Wine Guide, and after some more time in bottle it was considered 95+ on
WHY SPARKLING wine made according to the Mèthode Ancestral(e) is different relative to bubbly made the ‘traditional’ way – aka Champagne, Cava and Cap Classique – is that the fermentation involves a single, continuous process. From a stainless-steel tank, the fermenting wine is bottled and sealed at the point where there is just enough grape sugar remaining to make for
TOP WINE SA Hall of Fame, one of the Top 100 in the 2022 SA Wine Classification, among South Africa’s Top 10 Chenins and one of the country’s Wines of the Year in 2021. The 21 Gables barrel-fermented, barrel-matured Chenin Blanc from the Enthoven family’s Spier wine farm in Stellenbosch. Consistently top quality, always interesting and good value. Outstanding! The range of
THE WORDS ‘Private Bin’ on a bottle of Nederburg no longer mean that the wine was sold exclusively on auction. However, they do still indicate that the winemakers have made a special effort, gone the extra mile – and they now also appear on the Two Centuries Cabernet Sauvignon, beginning with the 2017 vintage. That said, the range of
SO, THE 2022 edition of Platter’s South African Wine Guide finally arrived on the bookshelves at around R390 a copy – early December instead of late November. At the time of writing, you still couldn’t buy one on the publisher’s website, where the 2021 version was on sale at R360. An online subscription for roughly half the price gives you
2020 IS THE NINTH vintage of the Field Blend from Stark-Condé, the fruit coming from an unusual vineyard on a slope close to the stream at the bottom of the Oude Nektar farm in Jonkershoek Valley, Stellenbosch. The block has various soil types and is planted to a number of different white grape varieties – whereas most blocks of
THE LE RICHE cellar has always been there or thereabouts when considering South Africa’s leading producers of Cabernet Sauvignon over the past decade or so! However, the last three years have been particularly successful for the family, with rave reviews from critics locally and internationally, culminating in victory at the Global Fine Wine Challenge in Sydney where the 2018 vintage
BLUE COVER in 2019, green in 2020, black in 2021… Platter’s 2022 South African Wine Guide is no doubt packed with as much useful info as in previous years, the highlights including awards presented to the top-performing wineries and producers of the tasting panels’ favourites in various categories. Edging out Savage Wines for the overall title, it’s the third time
DAYS IN ADVANCE of launching the 2022 edition of their book and presenting awards for their choice of Wines and Wineries of the Year, the publishers of Platter’s South African Wine Guide teased followers by divulging the names of their 5 Star laureates – 234 of them, each considered to be ‘Superlative, a South African classic’. However, also disclosed on
IN THE 2021 edition of Platter’s South African Wine Guide, the number of 5 Star laureates runs to 210 – in the 2020 edition there were 125, a year before that there were 90 and 10 years ago there were 56. In part this could be ascribed to rising standards throughout the industry with a growing number of producers delivering
THE LAUNCH of Platter’s 41st South African Wine Guide has not gone smoothly, to say the least. In advance of the hardcopy version reaching the book stores, the publishers chose to announce the recipients of their awards bit by bit in a fashion that was frustrating, if not irritating, and somewhat confusing – even for some of those on the
NO OTHER CAPE PORT has been more highly rated during the past 12 months. In 2020 it was judged Best in Class at the Trophy Wine Show, Best in Class at the National Wine Challenge and one of the Top 10 in the Winemag’s report on the category. This after several top accolades in 2019: 5 Stars in Platter’s SA Wine
