A number of top SA wine cellars boycott Platter’s 2024 guide
IT’S RIDICULOUS! A number of top winery proprietors or cellarmasters in the Cape winelands turned down the invitation to be listed in Platter’s 2024 South African Wine Guide. In this the 44th edition of the book, the printed version of which finally went on sale more than a month after the top ratings therein were divulged online, you can read about over 900 producers and more than 8000 wines, but there are some glaring omissions…
Missing from the 2024 guide are four of the Top 100 in terms of the 2023 SA Cellar Classification: De Wetshof (Robertson), Lothian (Elgin), Uva Mira (Stellenbosch) and Vilafonté (Stellenbosch). Also absent are some of the producers whose names came up in discussion revolving around a Top 20 poll conducted by Winemag.co.za: Damascene (Elgin), Lismore (Greyton) and Springfield (Robertson). More no-shows include: Avondale (Paarl), Blank Bottle (Somerset West) and De Toren (Stellenbosch). In some cases those boycotting the publication have been doing so for some years, whereas in others they are staying away for the first time.
According to Platter’s editor, Philip van Zyl: “Participation in the guide remains voluntary, and a limited number of producers, for a variety of reasons, elect not to enter wines or opt to be omitted entirely.” He says the goal is to taste, rate and describe every South African wine available locally or overseas – which, of course, would be in the wine-loving public’s best interests. What’s to stop him from being comprehensive by way of the listings, at least, i.e. apart from some indignant responses he might get from certain would-be stayaways. And surely the sponsor Diners Club could fund the purchase of certain tasting samples in order to rate whatever wines aren’t forthcoming from those claiming to be among the best or put on a pedestal by others purporting to know what’s best.
