Like previous guides, the new edition will include an A-Z directory, where producers are listed and their brands described and star-rated. Typically an A-Z entry will consist of the following: an overview paragraph; winery/distillery contact detail and general information such as location, name of owner and winemaker/distiller, tasting room opening hours etc; and tasting notes and ratings for wines, brandies, husk spirits and/or sherry-style wines available during the currency of the guide (November 2024 to November 2025). To be featured in Platter’s 2025, at no charge, we request that you use the Producer Information document emailed to you earlier to do the following:

1. Tell us what happened at your winery/distillery/in your wine business since the last edition, and what your plans are for the next 12 months and beyond. We require this information to refresh the overview paragraph, and depend on your input to create an accurate and informative depiction of your business.

2. Check and update, if necessary, your winery/distillery contact details and general information as they appeared last time, to ensure they will be correct during the currency of the new guide.

3. Check and update the supplementary email address/es held in our database, to ensure important notices reach you and any colleagues responsible for your winery/distillery’s submission to Platter’s, and you receive occasional marketing/promotional mail from Platter’s.

4. Check and update the social media address/es held in our database. These details appear in the digital versions of the guide.

5. Verify that any public tasting, sales or cellar tour facilities on your premises were correctly indicated on the map and map table last time. If unsure, email information coordinator Ina de Villiers at inadv@wineonaplatter.com for a map/table of your region. (Note that only venues open to the public, either by appointment or at set hours, are shown in the maps section.)

6. Answer a few short questions about your premises and facilities.

7. Then sign and email the document to Ina de Villiers at inadv@wineonaplatter.com no later than Monday 3 June 2024.

To have the Producer Information document resent, email Ina de Villiers at inadv@wineonaplatter.com.

1. The name of the taster allocated to your winery/distillery appears in the body of the email sent to you earlier. To view a short biography of your allocated taster, click here.

2. You are welcome to contact the allocated taster if you wish. Do so via the editor, Philip van Zyl (pvz@wineonaplatter.com). Do not contact the taster directly.

3. You may challenge your allocated taster if you have compelling reason/s to believe that in assessing your wine, they will contravene any of the provisions of the Declaration of Interest which each Platter judge is required to sign. Provide your reason/s in writing to Philip van Zyl, and nominate three (3) possible replacement judges from the team list. Note that unfortunately we cannot accommodate taster changes after Friday 28 June 2024.

4. Newcomers to the guide, and producers returning to Platter's after a break, are allocated two tasters; producers featured in the previous edition are allocated one taster.

5. Decide which products you wish to enter for tasting:

Wines

• We require tasting samples of the products that will be available during the currency of the guide (November 2024 to November 2025). Refer to the Expected Products & Vintages spreadsheet attached to the email sent to you earlier for the wines and vintages we are expecting to receive this edition.
• Include any wines you make for Woolworths, The Butcher Shop & Grill or Sandstone.
• Much as we'd like to, regrettably we cannot retaste vintages featured in previous editions, except in specific circumstances. For more details, see Frequently Asked Questions.

Brandies, husk spirits & sherry-style wines

• This edition, except in special circumstances, we WILL NOT retaste brandy, husk spirit and sherry-styles wine which we sampled previously.
• We WILL taste any completely new products or ranges, and existing products whose blend components, style and/or flavour profile changed markedly since last time.

6. When completed, email the Expected Products spreadsheet to the Platter’s Logistics Team at wines@wineonaplatter.com. A member of the team will contact you regarding the delivery date and documentation to accompany your tasting samples.

7. Send us the completed spreadsheet as soon as possible but no later than Monday 3 June 2024.

8. Note: we do NOT need the actual tasting samples by Monday 3 June 2024, only the spreadsheet, so we can set up our database accordingly. If you need more time to decide on which wines/spirits are to be tasted, and therefore cannot send us the spreadsheet by Monday 3 June 2024, contact Amanda Ferreira at af@wineonaplatter.com or on her mobile phone +27 84-763-0221 to arrange an extension.

9. We will receive the tasting samples at Vineyard Connection. Their address is: cnr Santhagen and Devon Valley Roads, Stellenbosch 7599.

10. You and the Logistics Team member will jointly decide on the date for delivering your wine to Vineyard Connection, but the "target" date is Friday 28 June 2024.

1. Each product entered for review must be accompanied by a Wine, Brandy, Husk Spirit or Sherry-Style Wine Information sheet. The Information sheet will be emailed to you by a Logistics Team member.

2. NOTE: If you already have data sheets covering the information we require, feel free to submit these instead of filling out the Information form. However, be sure you cover all the information we need, and include the winery name, plus the name and mobile phone number of the person responsible for Platter’s tasting samples at your winery/distillery.

3. If you do choose to use the Platter’s Information sheet, complete a separate one for each product in your range/s.

4. Also be sure to enclose a complete and up-to-date price list.

5. For any products not reflected on your price list, indicate the envisaged inclusive recommended retail price per bottle (in ZAR).

6. We require 2 (two) bottles of each wine, including any wines you make for Woolworths, The Butcher Shop & Grill or Sandstone, clearly marked as such.

7. We require only 1 (one) bottle of each brandy, husk spirit or sherry-style wine.

8. Pre-bottling wines (i.e. samples drawn from tank or barrel) are accepted, but you must

• Identify these very clearly to ensure they are prioritised accordingly, and
• Declare whether or not the wine is representative of the final bottled product.
• Note: we reserve the right to analyse the bottled versions and compare the results with data supplied for the previews.

Very important:

9. A member of Platter’s Logistics Team will contact you regarding the delivery date for your tasting samples. You and the Logistics Team member will jointly decide on a convenient date for delivering your wine to Vineyard Connection.

10. The Platter's Logistics Team member will also email you the finalised list of the products we expect to receive. Print out this "picklist" and include it, along with your price list and hardcopies of the completed Information sheets, with the tasting samples.

11. If you produce products for the CWG Auction, include them with your tasting samples. Do not send them to the CWG Office.

12. Vineyard Connection's address is: cnr Santhagen and Devon Valley Roads, Stellenbosch 7599. Click here for directions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which products should I enter for review?

Bear in mind that Platter’s goal is to provide its readers witsh ratings and descriptions of products and vintages that will be available during the currency of the new edition (November 2024 to November 2025). It makes no sense therefore to enter products which will come onto the market only several years in the future or, conversely, products long sold out ex cellar or no longer readily available in the trade. Refer to the Expected Products spreadsheet for the products and vintages we are expecting to receive this edition.

When does Platter’s retaste a product?

• If a product was a pre-bottling “preview” (i.e. an unfinished product) last time. Send us the bottled version of last year’s preview, plus any follow-up vintages available from November 2024 till November 2025;
• If there was a later bottling or, in the case of cap classique, a later disgorgement of the same vintage;
• Where credible evidence suggests we might have under-rated a product significantly in the previous edition, and
• At the instruction of the editor.

May I enter more than one vintage of a product?

Yes, we will taste multiple vintages if they were not tasted before. Previously reviewed vintages which are still selling will be noted as such, along with their original ratings.

May I enter a combination of market-ready products and pre-bottling previews?

Yes, if none were tasted before.

When and where do I deliver the tasting samples?

You and a member of the Logistics Team will jointly decide on a convenient date to deliver your tasting samples to Vineyard Connection. Click here for directions to Vineyard Connection. The address is: cnr Santhagen and Devon Valley Roads, Stellenbosch 7599.

May I ask for a different taster?

Yes. See How to have your products tasted and rated in Platter's.

Amanda Ferreira • Coordinator (wine) • T +27 84-763-0221 • af@wineonaplatter.com

Ina de Villiers • Coordinator (information) • T +27 21-852-6854 / +27 82-854-3172 • inadv@wineonaplatter.com

Philip van Zyl • Editor • T +27 82-896-9685 • pvz@wineonaplatter.com

1. Any winery/distillery, merchant or individual producing own-brand wine, brandy, husk spirit or sherry-style wine in South Africa may be featured in Platter's.