Platter's 5-star wines announced

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.

5-star wines

Cabernet Franc

• Warwick 2008

Cabernet Sauvignon

• Boekenhoutskloof 2009
  
• Graham Beck Chalkboard #3 2007
  
• Stark-Condé Three Pines 2009

Pinot Noir

• Chamonix Reserve 2010
  
• Newton Johnson Domaine 2010
  
• Oak Valley 2009

Shiraz/Syrah

• Boekenhoutskloof Syrah 2009
  
• Fairview The Beacon 2008
  
• Mont Destin Destiny 2007
  
• Mullineux Syrah 2009
  
• Saxenburg Select 2007

Red Blends

• Bouchard Finlayson Hannibal 2010
  
• De Toren Fusion V 2009
  
• Glenelly Lady May 2009
  
• La Motte Pierneef Shiraz-Viognier 2009
  
• Meerlust Rubicon 2007
  
• Miles Mossop Max 2008
  
• Sadie Family Columella 2009

Chardonnay

• De Wetshof The Site 2009
  
• Jordan CWG Auction Reserve 2010

Chenin Blanc

• Beaumont Hope Marguerite 2010
  
• Diemersfontein Carpe Diem 2010
  
• Vins d'Orrance Kama 2010

Grenache Blanc

• KWV Mentors 2010

Sauvignon Blanc

• Graham Beck Pheasants' Run 2011
  
• Hermanuspietersfontein No 5 2010
  
• Kleine Zalze Family Reserve 2010
  
• Steenberg CWG Auction Reserve The Magus 2010
  
• Strandveld 2010

White Blends

• Fable Jackal Bird 2010
  
• Flagstone CWG Auction Reserve Happy Hour 2009
  
• Mullineux White Blend 2010
  
• Nederburg Ingenuity 2010
  
• Tokara Director's Reserve White 2010

Méthode Cap Classique Sparkling

• Colmant Brut Chardonnay NV
  
• Topiary Blanc de Blancs Brut 2009

Natural Sweet

• Badsberg Badslese 2009

Dessert Wine Unfortified

• Boekenhoutskloof Semillon Noble Late Harvest 2008
  
• Fleur du Cap Noble Late Harvest 2010
  
• Mullineux Straw Wine 2010
  
• Nederburg Edelkeur 2010
  
• Nederburg Eminence 2010

Port

• Boplaas Cape Vintage Reserve 2009
  
• De Krans Cape Vintage Reserve 2009

The 2012 edition will be available from the end of November 2011 at a recommended retail price of R159.95.