South africa vies for attention

Compiled by Joe Hyam

Just as we have become familiar with the wineries and regions of Australia, New Zealand and California, along comes South Africa to compete for wine buyers' attention. Since the new political order in that country, imports of fine table wines into the UK have soared. Restaurants are now eager to add South African sections to their lists.

Areas such as Constantia, Stellenbosch, Paarl and Worcester will soon become as widely known as Napa, Coonawarra, Mudgee, Barossa and Marlborough.

The number of South African names and styles available was illustrated last month with the launch of the 1995 South African Airlines wine list.

Its red and white pairs of recommended wines change every month and include one or two names already known in the UK such as Thelema and La Motte and the powerful co-operative KWV. Many, however, are not so familiar.

A great help could be the easy-to-follow John Platter's South African Wine Guide. The 1995 edition was launched in the UK alongside the South African Airways list.

All the South African wineries on the list are covered in the guide, which also includes an A-Z of wineries with star-ratings as well as maps and descriptions of grape varieties and how they perform.

For anyone seeking to build a serious South African section on their wine list, the guide is essential reading. The UK edition is available from bookshops at £8.99. The publisher/distributor is Mitchell Beazley.