"I have long been inspired by the heart and soul (and guts) of the LoH team, and I am honoured to have been invited to join them"
Cathy Van Zyl MW, Chairwoman of the Trust
Introduction by Chairwoman of the Trustees, Cathy Van Zyl MW
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As I sit in Changi International Airport, Singapore, pen in hand waiting for my connecting flight to
Tokyo to begin boarding, I cannot help but think that perhaps I was born to follow in John Platter’s
footsteps …
You see, way back in 1995, not long after my wine journey begun in earnest with courses at the Cape
Wine Academy in Johannesburg, my husband, Philip, asked me if I thought we should ‘relocate to the
Cape to be closer to the source’. Infused with the enthusiasm of youth and several bottles of Buiten
Blanc, I immediately agreed. And, here is the important bit, when Philip asked what I thought we could
do for a living down south, I rather irreverently quipped: “Take over the reins from John and Erica.” I
was, of course, alluding to the John Platter’s Wine Guide which John and his wife, Erica, had started
just over a decade and a half before; John the taster-cum-writer and Erica the editor.
To cut a long story short, just a few years after our reverse ‘Great Trek’, Philip fortuitously met Erica at
a lunch, and she recommended him to Andrew McDowell, who had recently bought the guide from
John and Erica. Philip’s been editing it ever since (his first edition under Erica’s wing was 1999) but it was not until
I had passed the Master of Wine Examination that I was invited to join the
Platter’s tasting team and, in a way, continued along the path laid down by John.
And now, some 21 years later, I once again find myself shadowing a man whose influence on South
Africa’s wine industry has been immense, not only as a barometer of its wine quality, but more
importantly, some would argue, as its social conscience and moral compass. It was inevitable that
John and the Land of Hope Trust would find each other, and a given that he and its trustees would
work so well together, and for so long.
John’s final message as Chairman of The Land of Hope Trust (below) is just as I expected: a warm, genuine,
and heartfelt portrait of both the people who founded it and look after it, as well as a proud description
of their vision, goals, and achievements. There is little for me to add, except that I have long been
inspired by the heart and soul (and guts) of the very people John mentions. I am honoured to have
been invited to join the team and look forward to doing everything I can to ensure the faith that it and
John have put in me because, if there is one thing I have learnt since embracing the wine industry as
mine, it is that enthusiasm is not just a hallmark of the young.
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I very much look forward to supporting the Trust and to carrying on the vital mission of providing a
proper education and opportunity in life to children where it really counts.
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​"This is a happy redundancy adieu!"
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A note from outgoing Chairman, John Platter
March 2026
Happy because for the past 20 years, from its inception, I’ve been privileged to witness the Land of Hope Trust (LOH) team at close hand. It’s been an inspiring, heart-warming pleasure, not least when following the educational progress of the kids funded by the Trust.
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A couple of examples. Zuko Mdunyelwa now plays for the mighty Mamelodi Sundowns. LOH funded his scholarship to The Dallas Cup. Yes, soccer in Texas! And certainly an education in itself. I have transferred my loyalties to the Sundowns.
Another beneficiary, Alicia Whitman, supported from Nursery School through to Primary and High School to Matric, is now into her second year of a BA varsity degree in Psychology - doubtless keeping her mum, Heather, and a key founding trustee, even more on her toes. As if she needs it!
Many others of the 34 (LOH) beneficiaries have made good at various academies and fashion design schools, a number after remedial and extra-curricular support and financing of uniforms, transport and after-care. To date, the Trust has disbursed R6,5 million. More than 75% of that in school fees, directly to suppliers.
Not vast sums perhaps - but consequential. Radford Dale is a forward-thinking, very plugged-in modern wine, export savvy operation, with constant visits from collaborating international winemakers and investors, including from Australia (Robert Hill-Smith), France (Edouard Labeye) and the UK (Cliff Roberson). It was the UK’s Virgin Wines’ Rowan Gormley who provided the kick-start wine purchase of R400,000. Since then an overall annual upward trendline of in-house-generated funding has been maintained.
To be sure, there are now many Cape wine projects with similarly worthy intentions. The LOH can pride itself, however, as being among the earliest and with some unique features. Each trustee has had designated duties in the production chain of LOH labels; and each therefore can benefit from quick in-house and ongoing local and international mentorship, an effective skills transfer process (conspicuously lacking in so many of the flawed BEE schemes).
This is not a loud virtue signalling project, more a quiet private enterprise. Much of the Trust funding coming from LOH earnings of 50% of the profits in sales of the wines, produced under the general aegis of Radford Dale and its facilities.
The proprietorial context is real. The ripple effects raise optimism and morale in the wider community and the project vindicates itself and its role in society. And it fits classic staff-participation business ideals.
The Trust founder Alex Dale, who is also the CEO of Radford Dale, saw the ‘gaping gaps’ in the government’s far too basic ‘basic education’ outcomes which cried out - and still do - for support for extracurricular tuition and ‘finishing’ courses to prepare students for the real world. But the Trust has broadened into something more than assisting students.
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A word on Alex - a good friend and one of Cape wine’s fearless and gritty big thinkers - a Burgundian in all but name; though he speaks without that curiously fetching charm of French-accented English - a mild disappointment!
In many respects, he’s a Burgundy-style Negociant, but more. Negociants don’t necessarily own land or vineyards, but source or harvest grapes, buy wine, sometimes in bulk; barrel, blend, age, and market their brands. Many wine farmers prefer to farm out these laborious bureaucratic stages of the trade.
Alex is a natural, inveterate negotiator. For years his parents had the good sense - and he the good fortune - to call Burgundy home, a very holy grail of classic wines, teeming with negociants! He arrived here, already a fully ‘immersed’ enophile and wily trader, when South Africa was grappling with the heady excitements of its birth pangs from white to black rule. He decided to stay. In 2021, Radford Dale did finally invest in purchasing an Elgin Estate, growing out from its sprawling wine facilities at Stellenbosch. Some rational re-structuring of the Trust is in the works too.
A huge ‘spinoff’ benefit has been a quite extraordinary LOH team spirit, a highly-talented, committed, hard-working, ethical bunch, and yes, fun-loving. They after all live in the mystical, wonderful, ancient and modern world of wine. Some of their days are leavened by a laughing vinous glow. But sometimes they do get things wrong. They should have put me out to pasture long ago.
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Which brings me to my second reason to be cheerful about stepping down as chairman of the Trust. I am replaced by a grande dame of Cape wine, Cathy van Zyl, MW (Master of Wine) with a formidable general CV. Cathy became the first Master of Wine on the African continent when she passed the notoriously difficult MW examination in 2005 and was awarded the prestigious MW title by the British Institute of Masters of Wine, and is today still one of only two MWs in Africa. She chaired the Institute of Masters of Wine between September 2022 and 2024 after first serving for two years as its vice-chair and for six years as a member of its Council (board of directors) prior to that. Before joining Council, she chaired the education committee for fours years (during which she wrote the student guide to tasting and writing like a Master of Wine) after organising the student seminar in Bordeaux for seven years.
The LOH Trust is very fortunate to have Cathy and they know it. They have in her a lively, charming and wise Chair, with outstanding wine-tasting experience. And she knows, in turn, they will reward her with enthusiasm, gratitude and fun.
Her guidance will be particularly invaluable too as the Trust, like so many of us in wine, confront the current triple global crises: climate change; an alarming worldwide drop in consumption; and a determined onslaught by governments and medical scientists to consign all alcohol to the dogbox. What happened to moderation?
Thanks and cheers to the LOH Trust and Radford Dale team - John