John Platter´s Awards

South Africa's first and still best-selling annual wine guide, John Platter's south african wine guide is the comprehensive, up-to-date and authoritative guide to "who's who?" and "what's what?" in the South African wine world. Featuring hundreds of producers, brands and thousands of wines, Platters wine guide packs everything you need to know about the South African wine scene into an informative and entertaining format.

The idea for Platters Wine Guide was conceived in 1978 by wine lovers and journalists John and Erica Platter after reading Hugh Johnson's groundbreaking pocket wine guide. The couple now wryly recall their first edition (1980) - an attempt to design a domestic version of this pocket guide with as much wine-related detail as possible - which was dismissed as "boring" and "a waste of money" by the typesetter of the very company contracted to print the book! Three decades later, however, with two "Best Wine Guide Worldwide" awards to their credit and well over a million copies sold, you'd think the Platters had the right touch. They have since handed over the reins to a new team, which remains committed to keeping John Platters Wine Guide as South Africa's favorite wine guide.

Platters Rating System:

• 5 Stars - Superlative, a South African classic
• 4.5 Stars - Outstanding
• 4 Stars - Excellent
• 3.5 Stars- Very Good / Promising
• 3 Stars - Full of character / appealing
• 2.5 Stars - Good for everyday enjoyment
• 2 Stars - Pleasant to drink
• 1.5 Stars - Simple / drinkable
• 1 Star - Simple and plain

In addition, the Platter Wine Guide annually awards the titles "Red Wine of the Year" as well as "White Wine of the Year" - a particularly prestigious award for South African wine producers.