The 2008 edition of Platter's Wine Guide, the South African wine bible, has just been published and will be available online from www.platteronline.com at the end of the month.
This year for the first time the judging panel (see below) chose a Winery of the Year, Cape Point Vineyards, which certainly swept up a quite disproportionate share of awards in the Trophy Wine Show with which I was involved in May.
Wine of the Year, chosen by the editor Philip Van Zyl from the 88 wines that made it through to the second round, is Bouchard Finlayson Tête de Cuvée Galpin Peak Pinot Noir 2005. The judges also choose what they consider the best value South African wine, under the rather inelegant title Superquaffer of the Year, which in 2008 goes to Simonsig Estate's Chenin Blanc.
But these are really just publishing ploys to draw attention to a new edition. The main thing to realise is that if you are at all interested in South African wine, then you need the latest edition of Platter since the South African wine scene is currently so fluid with new wineries and labels being sprouted all the time. It’s also very helpful in terms of the tourist information included.
Keep visiting www.platteronline.com to see when the new edition is available.
