Platter’s 2024 South African Guide
Platter’s 2024 Guide: Benguela Cove shines with two 5-star accolades and an impressive eleven 4.5-stars.
Benguela Cove Lagoon Wine Estate has achieved remarkable success in the Platter’s 2024 South African Wine Guide. The estate proudly received two 5-star 'highly recommended' awards for our Catalina Semillon and Vinography Petit Verdot, plus eleven wines earning 4.5 stars. This reflects our dedication to producing top-quality wines.
Highlights from Platter's 2023 Ceremony
The 2024 edition of the Platter’s by Diners Club Wine Guide, unveiled in Stellenbosch on 16 November 2023, offers a comprehensive look at the South African wine scene. It profiles more than 900 wineries across South Africa, featuring around 8,000 unique local wines. This guide is a crucial benchmark, reflecting the dynamic growth and diversity of the South African wine industry.
Benguela Cove's Achievements in Platter’s 2024
Benguela Cove Catalina 2021
Only being the third release, the wine made from this single vineyard Semillon has taken the world by storm. It is made from a 0.9-hectare single vineyard that performs extremely well every year and that communicates the purity of fruit and the longevity of the wine it produces.
Vinography Petit Verdot 2021
The power of this wine lies in its elegance and all the delicate nuances that define a sophisticated red wine. It delivers on a montage of dark fruit like mulberry, hemmed with a gentle perfume of incense, freshly pruned roses, and hints of dark chocolate.
Benguela Cove Vinography Chardonnay
Embark on a journey of cool climate finesse delivered with a spectacle of citrus and tropical fruit. All these nuances are delicately introduced as the wine warms up bringing ginger, hazelnut, lemon-curd, loquat, and lemon verbena to the fore.
Benguela Cove Vinography Sauvignon Blanc
Fruit is the hero, honoured by the smart use of oak that frames beautifully. The wine defines power, backed by notes of flint and chalk to elevate the fruit. The 500L French oak barrels with Acacia heads add a bohemian twist.
Vinography Cabernet Sauvignon
Ripe red fruits on the nose that follow through on the palate. Sweet notes of violets and hints of dried vanilla pods with nuances of tobacco and dried tomato leave adding to the layers of complexity of this elegant wine.
Benguela Cove Collage
The initial masculinity of this wine is tempered with vivid notes of violets, delivering a classic, multi-faceted blend. Rich aromas of cherry, raspberry, and fynbos are wrapped in cool nuances of cigar leaves, pencil shavings, and dried herbs.
Benguela Cove Cabernet Sauvignon
Give this wine a good swirl to evoke concentrated aromas of subtle dark fruit, sour plums, violets, sweet leather, and cool nuances of fynbos, and strawberry jam.
Benguela Cove Syrah
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Benguela Cove Pinot Noir
This wine is a true impression of a vintage, packed with layers of fruit and intricate flavour nuances that make you want to go back for more.
Benguela Cove Sauvignon Blanc
If preserved green figs evoke childhood memories, this wine will pour itself into your heart. These vivid aromas are joined with notes of grapefruit and gunflint, balanced with sweet tropical fruit and lemon candy.
Benguela Cove Chardonnay
It is nearly impossible not to fall in love with the sumptuous aroma of this wine. Green-gold in colour, elegantly knit aromas of flint, peach, melon and nougat lure you in and generously follow through on the palate. Met with fresh acidity, a gentle creaminess also envelops the palate, trailed with citrus zest, and a toasty finish.
Benguela Cove Joie De Vivre
This is a vintage that captures the class and finesse chardonnay is known for in traditional sparkling wines all over the world. Inviting aromas of nougat and shortbread biscuit are followed by intricate notes of citrus, almonds, and grapefruit to rise to the surface in a fine, vibrant mousse.
Benguela Cove Noble Late
The initial greeny straw colour will intensify over time. The wine delivers with heady notes of pineapple, orange peel, grapefruit and dried peaches. Hemmed by notes of honey, raisin and rose oil, adds to this already complex bouquet.
Cellar-master Johann Fourie says,
“Receiving 4.5 stars or more for all 13 of our entries is a major accomplishment for a family-owned, boutique vineyard in just six years since building our own winery. In 2016, we decided to take full control over quality, so all the grapes used are now grown, vinified, and bottled exclusively on the estate.”
He continued, “We prioritise site-specific wines that showcase Benguela Cove's unique terroir and the distinctive wine style it produces. The diversity of slopes, soils, and exposure to the prevailing winds bring out the best in each varietal, while Benguela Cove's special location on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean lends a distinctive character to our wines.
