The John Platter Wine Guide, SA’s leading wine annual since 1980, has announced that Croydon Title Deed 2005 and Covenant 2005 have both been awarded four stars in the upcoming 2008 edition. This categorises the wines as "Excellent". A maximum of five stars is achievable and only 21 wines achieved this distinction, including Beyers Truter's Field Blend 2003.The Guide, which strives to rate, as far as is practically possible, all of the wines that are available for the duration of the particular edition, locally as well as abroad, tasted and assessed nearly 6 000 individual wines over several months.
Responsible for this mammoth task is an experienced team of tasters, who ranked the wines according to the guide's five-point scale, ranging from 0 stars ('Somewhat less than ordinary') up to 5 stars ('Superlative. A Cape classic').
In the course of this year's evaluations, they identified 88 candidate five-stars across a variety of categories, including reds and whites, dessert wines and port styles. Only finished/bottled wines, available during the currency of the guide, were considered. These candidates were then judged 'blind' by a panel of the guide's tasters.
Andrew McDowall, publisher, extends congratulations to all the five-star winegrowers, and to the makers of the balance of the five-star contenders, whose names will be unveiled with the book launch in November.
The Guide’s Wine of the Year will be announced at the same time, 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. The book’s first Winery of the Year award will also be made.
Analysing the results, McDowall said: “The best performing category this year was that of Port style wines; we have five five-star wines in this category and Boplaas Family Vineyards receives two of these, for its 2005 Vintage Reserve and NV Cape Tawny.
“The other strong category was that of white blends. Here, four five-star wines were awarded. And chenin blanc, which last year for the first time shone as a variety with three five-stars out of six nominated wines, again achieved a five-star rating.
“Of the red categories, cabernet sauvignon and Cape bordeaux blends did well to achieve two five-stars each. All-in-all, the red categories matched the whites with seven five-stars each.
A selection of the five-star wines will be served at the South African Mega Tasting in London during October.The 2008 edition will be available from November 2007 from selected book shops and retail outlets, as well as the website, www.platteronline.com. The recommended retail price is R139.95.
