Grape open space

Platter time again – Platter problem? 8 May 2006

From regular correspondent Cassuis:

It's that time of the year again, when every second corporate and bank has their wine trophy competition or show on the road. The single 'event and / or publication' with the biggest influence on local and foreign buyers must be the Platter Wine Guide. My wine industry friends inform me that the time for producers to submit wines for the 2007 JP is looming.

As far as I can gather only 'new' wines are tasted for the 2007 Guide, ie, wines tasted and rated for 2006 won't be retasted. Personally I can spot the logic in this move – having to taste through thousands of wine in addition to new ones. It is unlikely a 2 star rated from 06 will have matured into 4 and half!!
But what about those 4 and 4 and a half wines, tasted when they were at most two or three years old, never to be assessed again, to see if a year down the line they did indeed settle their 'rough' edges that cost them a 5 star a year before?

Personally I don't think it's that much to ask that those wines who were strong candidates for top spots the year before should be assessed again. After all, if I was asked to taste through all those wines without paying to do so, I'll be right at the front....

Response from Tim James:
As one of the Platter tasting team, I can assure you that we all, I think, would share your wish that the best wines could be re-tasted. We're meant to look at them in the first place with an eye to their likely maturation potential - but of course, that is extremely difficult. A five-star sweet wine of a few year's back actually collapsed very quickly, and people who'd bought it would find mostly disappointment if they kept it for longer than a few months.... So things also work in the direction away from improvement, too.

I asked Philip van Zyl, editor of Platter for his comments, and, unfortunately, he confirms the logic you yourself had discerned. He says:

Historically, in our annual invitations to producers to submit wines for rating by the guide, we asked for ALL wines available during the currency of that particular edition. Two years ago, the overall number of wines submitted suddenly and unexpectedly skyrocketed, due to slower sales, forcing a rethink of our policy. With upwards of 5500 wines to taste and describe in the short space of two months, plus the prospect of 80-100 (!) new or previously unlisted producers, I hope the industry will understand that though we truly would like to back-taste vintages submitted last year, we simply are unable to.

To which it should be added, I suppose, that the wines in question will, in all probability, not longer be easily available (or so the producers would be hoping!), and Platter's aim is to provide a guide to wines currently on the shelf.

As in most wine guides, there are problems in Platter: Philip and his team struggle to do the best they can, but all would admit that the idea remains a dream....

Another suggestion, from Clive Sindelman:
How about a bank of five stars only that get retasted over a decade and figure in a separate little chapter of Platter's? Would make for a great read.

It would indeed, and be a fascinating record. Wonder if it might be possible, somehow... –TJ

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