Backsberg

Quick Facts on Platter’s Wine Guide:

• The annual guide was started in 1980 by John Platter
• Currently 50 000 copies sold each year
• Over 700 wine producers are included in the guide
• Over 6000 wines are tasted each year
• The only guide in the world to actually include all make provision to include all of the wine producers of that particular country
• Neil Pendock correctly points out that there are some producers that don’t submit their wines because of the methodology.

Some of the key points that current editor, Philip van Zyl, made on the question of tasting the wines sighted (basically the main bone of contention) included:

• Emphasised the point that the book served as ‘guide’ and it’s mission was to act as a good recommendation.
• That in turn implied having the fullest possible knowledge of a wine was in fact first prize.
• The panel of tasters went through a process where their palates were calibrated (first time I have written that phrase!)
• The goal was to establish a ‘track record’.
• There were plenty of internal checks and balances between various judges to ensure accuracy.

Other interesting points coming out of the meeting:

• The guide is going to be embracing the digital world soon, with applications for the iPhone, Blackberry and other 3G phones in the pipeline.

• Philip also intends taking the guide back to it’s ‘roots’ with more personal interaction between the guide and wine producers and more focus on the back story.

Points from producers:

• The idea of having a wine tasted by two judges was raised (currently wines are mostly tasted by a single judge)
• The potential for for some kind of veto/appeal process was raised

As mentioned in my video up top, an amusing aspect in the meeting (for me), was that of the 650 odd pages in the guide, they chose our write-up page (see above) as the case study for the morning. I was busy doing some live twittering (see here) when I looked up to see a very familiar page! SB

P.S. If I have left out anything and you were at the meeting or if you have a question drop a comment below.

Update: Dana Buys from Vrede en Lust writes a good post here with some of his thoughts on the meeting. I agree with him on the point of the meeting being something of a milestone.

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This post was written by:

Simon Back- who has written 51 posts on the Back Chat Blog. After finishing up studying economics at UCT in 2007, Simon has joined his family wine farm, Backsberg. When he is not trying to figure out what marketing wine means, he is authoring his blog, Back Chat.

Author's web site: Backsberg

Read more in Day to Day, Video, Wine.

Last 3 posts by Simon Back

• Backsberg wins Sustainability Award at The Drinks Business Green Awards - February 28th, 2010
• Ship direct to Europe- affordably! - February 28th, 2010
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