The 5-star wines were made available for tasting yesterday and today, 12 October 2011 at the Cape Wine Europe show in London.
There are 7000 wines featured in the new edition, 400 more than last time, of which members of the Platter judging team identified 139 bottlings in the first round of tastings, as potentially worthy of 5-stars.
The candidate 5-star wines were then entered into a second round of evaluation, conducted 'blind' across a variety of categories, including reds and whites, sparkling, dessert wines and port styles. Only bottled (ie market-ready) wines, available during the currency of the 2012 guide, were considered.
Of the 139 five-star contenders, Graham Beck Wines was the other star performer, with 5-star ratings for two wines: the new Chalkboard #3 Cabernet Sauvignon and Pheasants' Run Sauvignon Blanc.
There are a high number of first-time 5-star recipients, including Badsberg Wine Cellar, Colmant Cap Classique & Champagne, Diemersfontein Wines, Glenelly Cellars, Miles Mossop Wines, Mont Destin, Oak Valley Wines and Warwick Estate. Established producers returning to five-star form after a gap of several years are La Motte, which last bagged the maximum rating in the 1995 edition and KWV in the 1986 guide.
The best-performing categories this edition are red blends, with seven wines and Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz, unfortified dessert wines and white blends with five wines each. Of the single-variety white-wine categories, Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay and Grenache Blanc yield three, two and one 5-star wines respectively, while Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc are the top order in the single-variety reds line-up.
The leading Wine of Origin appellations are Stellenbosch with nine 5-star wines, followed by Western Cape seven, Coastal five and Franschhoek, Paarl and Swartland, with four apiece.
Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Sauvignon
Pinot Noir
Shiraz/Syrah
Red Blends
Chardonnay
Chenin Blanc
Grenache Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc
White Blends
Méthode Cap Classique Sparkling
Natural Sweet
Dessert Wine Unfortified
Port
The 2012 edition will be available from the end of November 2011 at a recommended retail price of R159.95.
