The Diners Club International Winelist of the Year Awards encourage food and wine-serving establishments to improve the standards of the wine selection they offer to their patrons, applauding the high standards of those who already excel. The award categories and competition requirements are in line with market trends and Diners Club International’s contribution towards service excellence in the hospitality and tourism industries.

Convenors of the Diners Club International Winelist of the Year Awards are former award-winning restaurateurs Michael Olivier, now wine and food specialist for Pick ’n Pay, and Mike Bampfield-Duggan of Wine Concepts in Cape Town. The panel of judges for the 2006 Winelist of the Year Awards included Cape Wine Master Clive Torr, well known restaurant judge Lannice Snyman, food writer and sommelier Arnold Vorster, wine judge and writer Angela Lloyd, wine writer and Cape Talk Radio presenter John Maytham, food writer and author Myrna Robbins, wine trainers Catherine Bouttell-Coackley and Dr Jim Coackley.

To qualify for a Diners Club International Winelist of the Year Award, winelists have to include a minimum of 20 wines. Entrants are required to have a stock-holding equivalent to at least one month’s turnover and must undertake to have everything on the list available for a minimum of four months after the announcement of the competition results in September of each year.

The judges look for restaurateurs who go the extra mile, creating winelists that are in harmony with the food on their menus, those that offer a variety of styles and breadth in terms of where the wines come from, winelists that represent wineries both big and small. Other scoring criteria focus on prices (showing value for money from entry level to top wines to suit all pockets), the presence of boutique cellars, the explanation of the corkage (BYO) policy for patrons who like to bring their own wine, descriptions of the wines, guidance to suitable wine and food combinations, wine available by the glass, special features such as auction wines and rarities with vintages, plus the overall impression, layout and legibility of the winelist.

A Gold Award represents a score of between 60% and 84.9% on the judges’ score sheets, and a Platinum Award 85% and above.

River Bend Lodge's restaurant has been awarded the Platinum Award in 2006 - one of only 3 in the entire Eastern Cape Region!

Farewell to Marius and Lorraine

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