The 45th edition of South Africa’s original and still favourite wine adviser, Platter’s Guide, is here, with an elegant blue-green cover-colour that speaks of South Africa’s vineyards’ unique location between two oceans.
The guide’s founders, journalists and winelovers John and Erica Platter, in the late 1970s were inspired by Hugh Johnson’s pioneering Pocket Wine Book to compile a local version, with wine tasting notes, ratings, potted winery profiles and general information useful to consumers. Ignoring the advice of a compositor at their printing company not to ‘waste money on a boring book’, they launched the first edition in 1980 and went on to grow the title into a perennial top seller.
An Expansive Offering
The landmark 45th edition features well over 900 producers, merchants and brands, including 30 new ones, and over 8,000 locally produced wines, as well as brandies, husk spirits and sherry-style wines.
The guide’s descriptions and ratings, compiled in association with a team of leading experts, make it easy to find the right wine for any occasion, while the good-value indicators highlight those bottlings which are especially budget friendly across all quality levels.
Exploring Wine Country
Platter’s 2025 also packs extensive information on where to go and what to do in wine country. Winetasting options are covered in detail, along with many winery amenities, attractions and activities, plus dining and accommodation in Cape Town and the winelands. Easy-to-use maps and quick look-up tables provide invaluable help for visitors planning their own wineland rambles, while listings of specialised wine tour operators offer a variety of alternatives for those who prefer a guided experience.
Comprehensive Wine Education
Fully updated notes on the major winegrowing regions, grape varieties, winemaking styles, winetasting terms, and the major wine competitions and awards, as well as listings of wine educators country-wide form part of a wide-ranging offering.
As always, the guide is prefaced by an insightful and thought-provoking overview of important developments and trends in South Africa and the wider wine world.
A much-anticipated feature of the guide is the reveal of the cover colour. This year it is a stylish cyan and silver combination, which the Platter’s team named “Cape of Storms”.
Five-Star Wines and Awards
A highlight of any new edition is the five star wines line-up – the exceptional bottlings which emerge from a second round of tasting of the wines with the highest rating on the Platter’s scale of 0 – 5 stars (“Somewhat less than ordinary” to “Superlative. A South African classic”). In this edition 259 wines, brandies and husk spirits receive five stars, equating to 95 or more on the 100-point international scale.
Of the 5-star-awarded wines, the highest scorers within each category receive the sought-after accolade, Wines of the Year. This time there are 27 category winning wines. Also noteworthy are 344 Highly Recommended wines, brandies and husk spirits which narrowly miss five stars but are nonetheless extremely fine and collectable in their own right, earning a rating of 94 on the 100-point scale; just over 170 reds and whites showing particular potential for cellaring (they appear under the banner “Buy Now, Drink Later”); 167 Hidden Gems, wines which tasters feel are particularly worthy of note, being interesting, attractive, unique or representative of an important trend; and 48 Superquaffers, wines that are exceptionally drinkable and well-priced.
Eben Sadie of Sadie Family Wines, Platter’s 2025 Top Performing Winery of the Year, with Philip van Zyl (Platter’s Editor and Managing Director)
Prestigious Winery of the Year Awards
The three prestigious Winery of the Year awards are the highest accolades bestowed by Platter’s. The Top Performing Winery of the Year goes to the winery that achieves the most five stars after the annual final tasting round. This year the recipient is Sadie Family Wines, Platter’s highest-achieving winery on four previous occasions, this time with six maximum ratings.
The Editor’s Award Winery of the Year award recognises a winegrowing individual or team who, based on performance in the current edition as well as track record, are ambassadors par excellence for South African wine. This year the award goes to Hamilton Russell Vineyards, in its 50th anniversary year, for pushing beyond the established winegrowing areas into cooler climates, while maintaining focus, the highest standards of quality and ongoing refinement.
The Newcomer Winery of the Year is awarded to a producer who debuted in Platter’s this year and achieved the highest scores. The well-deserved recipient of this distinction is Terra Loci, with a stunning 95-point Elgin Chardonnay.
Platter’s 2025 hardcover is available from selected bookstores and retailers nationwide from early December 2024. The recommended retail price is R427.00 incl VAT.
A subscription to the digital editions, namely the web-based version as well as the apps for Apple and Android devices, is available from www.wineonaplatter.com/products or the app stores (a single subscription unlocks all digital versions).