Wine brochure misleads — expert

Ratings released before some of the wine grapes had ripened

A CHRISTMAS wine brochure published by a big retailer, Makro, has been taken to task by wine critic Neil Pendock, who claims that it is “misleading”.

Makro is advertising “current wine vintages” with Platter star ratings taken from the popular wine guide’s 2008 edition.

But the ratings, which often determine how wines are priced , were published in November, before the grapes for some of the Makro-advertised wines were harvested.

Pendock told The Times: “The use of the Platter ratings is grossly misleading. Tiny print on the last page [of the Makro brochure] states that “all Platter ratings are from the 2008 guide which was released in November 2007’.”

“Last year’s ratings will not apply because the wine was either made this year, in the case of the white wines, or released this year, in the case of the red wines,” Pendock said.

Carolyn Barton, Makro’s national wine buyer, put the error down to a mistake that “slipped through”.

The brochure features a picture of a bottle of De Grendel Sauvignon Blanc 2008, which has a four-star Platter rating.

De Grendel winemaker Elzette Dupreez said: “We harvested the Sauvignon Blanc only this year. It is a current release and it wasn’t available last year.

“We haven’t received a rating from the Platter Guide for this wine yet.”

The 2009 edition of the Platter guide is to be released in November.

Barton said: “It is difficult to keep track of vintages of all wines in all our stores nationally so we remove all vintages from the bottle images to be on the safe side. Unfortunately the De Grendel Sauvignon Blanc image slipped through, showing its 2008 vintage.”