Platter's by Diners Club South African Wine Guide launches milestone 45th edition

Thursday, 21 November, 2024

Platter's by Diners Club

The 45th edition of South Africa's original wine adviser, Platter's Guide, is here.

Eben Sadie of Sadie Family Wines with the Platter's 2025 Top Performing Winery of the Year award.

The 45th edition of South Africa's original and still favourite wine adviser, Platter's by Diners Club South African Wine Guide, was launched yesterday (20 November 2024) at an awards function at Sadie Family Wines in Swartland. The 2025 book has an elegant blue-green cover colour that speaks of South Africa's vineyards' unique location between two oceans.

The guide's founders, journalists and wine lovers John and Erica Platter, in the late 1970s were inspired by Hugh Johnson's pioneering Pocket Wine Book to compile a local version with wine tasting notes, ratings, potted winery profiles, and general information useful to consumers. Ignoring the advice of a compositor at their printing company not to "waste money on a boring book", they launched the first edition in 1980 and went on to grow the title into a perennial top seller.

The landmark 45th edition features well over 900 producers, merchants and brands, including 30 new ones, and over 8 000 locally produced wines, as well as brandies, husk spirits and sherry-style wines.

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.

This year's expert tasters were: Winnie Bowman, Greg de Bruyn, Ndaba Dube, Nomonde Kubheka, Malu Lambert, Angela Lloyd, Cathy Marston, Fiona McDonald, Christine Rudman, Penny Setti, Cathy van Zyl, and Meryl Weaver. The associate tasters were Shon Kumar, Inika Minnie, and Kenny Nassen.

Platter’s 2025 also packs extensive information on where to go and what to do in wine country. Wine 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 winelands 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 winegrowing regions, grape varieties, winemaking styles, wine tasting terms, and the major wine competitions and awards, as well as listings of wine educators country-wide, 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.

A much-anticipated feature of the guide is the reveal of the cover colour. This year it is a stylish cyan and silver combination, which the Platter’s team named "Cape of Storms".

A highlight of any new edition is the five-star wines line-up – the exceptional bottlings which emerge from a second round of tasting of the wines with the highest rating on the Platter’s scale of 0-5 stars ("Somewhat less than ordinary" to "Superlative. A South African classic"). In this edition 259 wines, brandies and husk spirits receive five stars, equating to 95 or more on the 100-point international scale.

Of the 5-star-awarded wines, the highest scorers within each category receive the sought-after accolade, Wines of the Year. This time there are 27 category winning wines. Also noteworthy are 344 Highly Recommended wines, brandies and husk spirits which narrowly miss five stars but are nonetheless extremely fine and collectable in their own right, earning a rating of 94 on the 100-point scale; just over 170 reds and whites showing particular potential for cellaring (they appear under the banner "Buy Now, Drink Later"); 167 Hidden Gems, wines which tasters feel are particularly worthy of note, being interesting, attractive, unique or representative of an important trend; and 48 Superquaffers, wines that are exceptionally drinkable and well-priced.

The three prestigious Winery of the Year awards are 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 recipient is Sadie Family Wines, Platter's highest-achieving winery on four previous occasions, this time with six maximum ratings.

The Editor's Award Winery of the Year award recognises a winegrowing individual or team who, based on performance in the current edition as well as track record, are ambassadors par excellence for South African wine. This year the award goes to Hamilton Russell Vineyards, in its 50th anniversary year, for pushing beyond the established winegrowing areas into cooler climates, while maintaining focus, the highest standards of quality and ongoing refinement.

The Newcomer Winery of the Year is awarded to a producer who debuted in Platter's this year and achieved the highest scores. The well-deserved recipient of this distinction is Terra Loci, with a stunning 95-point Elgin Chardonnay.

Left: Anthony Hamilton Russell, proprietor of Hamilton Russell Vineyards, with 2025 Editor's Award Winery of the Year | Right: Johann Fourie of Terra Loci with the Newcomer Winery of the Year 2025 award.

The Platter's 2025 hardcover is available from selected bookstores and retailers nationwide from early December 2024. The recommended retail price is R427 incl. VAT.

A subscription to the digital editions, namely the web-based version as well as the apps for Apple and Android devices, is available from www.wineonaplatter.com/products or the app stores (a single subscription unlocks all digital versions).

Platter's 2025 category winners

Wines of the Year 2025

Cabernet Franc

Raats Cabernet Franc 2022

Cabernet Sauvignon

Simonsig The Garland Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

Cinsault Noir

Leeu Passant Wellington Old Vines Basson Cinsault 2022

Grenache Noir

Swartberg Wingerde Holism Garnacha 2023

Merlot

Holden Manz Merlot Reserve 2021

Pinotage

Diemersdal The Journal Pinotage 2022

Pinot Noir

Julian Schaal Mountain Vineyards Pinot Noir 2023

Shiraz/Syrah

Saronsberg Shiraz 2022

Red Blends, Cape Bordeaux

Buitenverwachting Christine 2017

Red Blends, with Pinotage

The Vinoneers No. 42 Cape Red Blend 2022

Red Blends, Shiraz/Syrah-Based

Erika Obermeyer Syrah-Grenache Noir-Cinsault 2021

Red Blends, Other

Anysbos Tesame 2022

Chardonnay

Iona Elgin Highlands Chardonnay 2022

Chenin Blanc

Stellenrust Old Bushvine Secrets and Lies Chenin Blanc 2023

Grenache Blanc

Glen Heatlie The Frontier Grenache Blanc 2023

Grenache Gris

Momento Grenache Gris 2023

Sauvignon Blanc

Diemersdal Wild Horseshoe Sauvignon Blanc 2023

Sémillon

Boekenhoutskloof Sémillon 2022

Sémillon Gris

Thorne and Daughters Tin Soldier Sémillon Gris 2023

White Blends, Cape Bordeaux

Constantia Glen Two 2022

White Blends, Other

Momento Chenin Blanc-Verdelho 2023

Cap Classique

Charles Fox Prestige Cuvée Cipher Blanc de Noirs 2018

Natural Sweet

Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 2021

Noble Late Harvest

Miles Mossop Kika 2023

Vin de Paille/Straw Wine

Mullineux Straw Wine 2023

Dessert Wine, Fortified

Nuy Barbieri Idro 2016

Port-Style

Bergsig Cape Late Bottled Vintage 2018

Five-star wines 2025