Orange (or Table Bay Sunset) is the colour of the Platter's by Diners Club South African Wine Guide 2026. I love it; one of my favourite colours and editor Philip van Zyl did well with his bold orange shirt! This year's celebration of the top performers was again held at Sadie Family Wines (last year's winery of the year) in the Swartland on another pretty warm day. In the old days, each 5 star wine was called up but these days there are so many that only the top producer in each category gets to be called up and give their 2 cents worth. A surprise for me was the Top Pinotage, which went to Tokara, and I was rather amused to hear Thys Louw comment "Even a Soutie can make Pintoage!", referring to winemaker Stuart Botha. No surprise was the top Cab Franc, going to Bruwer Raats for his 'VLAG' wine: a good story about how the farms used to signal to the harbour with flags and his wines are grown on the Vlaeberg, hence the name. I was interested to note how many Afrikaans labels there were in the top producers list: Vlag, Rotsbank, Pofadder, Terracura Spesiale, Bosman Family Twyfeling, De Kleine Wijn Hoendertande, Anysbos Tesame and De Kleine Wijn Liefling. Clearly a trend. Well done to Adi Badenhorst and his Saldanha Wine & Spirit Co team for being awarded the Newcomer Winery of the Year: 2 wines (fortified and sherry-style) earned 95 and 96 points,making Sherry cool again, even though Adi says the average age of the sherry drinker is now 79! Hat's off to the Top Performing Winery of the Year, Diemersdal Estate, with the most five stars after the annual final tasting round. Wonderful to see 2 generations with Thys his dad Tienie and also winemaker Juandre Bruwer taking a bow. The Editor’s Award Winery of the Year award recognises ambassadors par excellence for South African wine. This year the award goes to Alheit Vineyards, which has shown consistently stellar form since its debut in the 2012 edition.Click HERE to read the press release.