Over the weekend, the second annual La Capra Goatrun was presented by Fairview.

This year the race organizers outdid themselves. There were 400 entrants in the race. Sadly 50 of those thought the weather looked a little ominous, and turned back. Either that, or their alarms couldn’t get them up for the VERY early morning start.

The farm was a buzz on Friday afternoon, with people coming to register and collect their goodie bags in order to make the early Saturday morning start times a little more manageable.

Saturday morning rolled in, and so did a few dark clouds. Luckily the heavens didn’t open up on the 500 strong competitors, spectators and visitors to the farm that morning.

The runners were set off – the 8km and the 15km runners started at 7:45, with the 5km walkers starting at 08:00.

The 5km runners were treated to a few La Capra watering holes on the way through the vineyards – which slowed a few people down – nothing like sipping a cold La Capra Sauvignon Blanc while standing in the middle of the vineyards enjoying the smells and sights the vines and panoramic view have to offer.

The 5km women’s race was won by none other than our very own Marlene van der Berg – perhaps the local knowledge of the route, or the sneaking training sessions she was doing during her lunch helped J. Well done Marlene.

Fairview is delighted to announce the recipients of Platter’s highest rating – five stars – for the 2012 edition due in November.

Wines are graded in Platter’s on a five star scale, from “Somewhat less than ordinary” to “Superlative. A South African classic”. The guide strives to taste, rate and describe as many as possible of the South African-made wines available locally and overseas during the currency of the particular edition.

A record 7,000 wines are featured in the new edition (400 more than last time), of which 139 bottlings were identified in the first round of tasting by individual members of Platter’s judging team as potentially worthy of five stars.

The candidate five star wines were then entered into a second round of evaluation, conducted “blind” (without sight of the label) across a variety of categories, including reds and whites, sparkling, dessert wines and port styles. Only bottled (i.e. market-ready) wines, available during the currency of the 2012 guide, were considered.

Of the 139 five star contenders, 45 got the nod from the assembled panel.

Our Beacon 2008 Shiraz received the 5 star accolade this year. Something our winemakers are very proud of.

Congrats Anthony de Jager and team – a truly great achievement, for a truly great wine.

Fairview Wines have received wonderful scores from the latest Robert Parker review.

Using a 50-100 point quality scale, which is said to give a better all round result than the usual 20 point scale, Neal Martin reviewed huge numbers of South African wines and Fairview fared extremely well.

According to The Wine Advocate website a score of 90 – 95 points indicates “An outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines.”

Fairview is thrilled to announce that the

• Fairview Caldera 2008;
• Fairview Eenzaamheid Shiraz 2009
• The Beacon Shiraz 2007 and
• Spice Route Chakalaka 2009 all received scores of more than 90 points!

In summation of his Wine Advocate report on the South African Wine Industry, Neal Martin said, “For the consumer, there is a gamut of rich pickings to be found. Just pour without prejudice.”

So choose one of Fairview’s outstanding wines, pour, drink and enjoy! (without prejudice)

At the luncheon to announce the winners, Bobby Malabie, Chief Executive of Absa Business Bank, said: “Absa is again honoured to be the main sponsor of the Absa Top 10 Pinotage competition, in partnership with the Pinotage Association, to promote uniquely South African wine made from Pinotage grapes.”

He said this was not only an occasion to celebrate the success of the 2011 winners, but also a 15 year milestone of this exciting competition and partnership. “Its highly respected reputation has encouraged winemakers every year to do their utmost to be one of the Top 10 winners.”

Fairview have consistently been in the Absa top 10 over the years. Our first award being that of the Spice Route 2003 in the 2004 competition.

More recently the Fairview Primo Pinotage 2007 was awarded the honours in the 2008 competition, Fairview Pinotage 2009 in the 2010 awards. And this year the Fairview Primo 2009 has captured the hearts (and taste buds) of the judges.

The Deep red colour with purple touches. Intense cherry and perfumed violet on the nose, with underlying notes of smoky oak and sweet spice. Ripe plum and spice on the palate with a firm structure worthy of time in the bottle. This wine will only get better with time.

A definite must for any cellar.

We are extremely proud of our Pinotages and rightfully so, as Charles has spent a large part of his life in pursuit of locations that express the uniqueness and show-stopping ability of this varietal. During his travels, he have found many beautiful and unusual vineyard settings. Primo Pinotage is our selection of the finest wine of the vintage, selected from sites that allow the varietal to find its true expression.

It was a great success and as such we have decided to bring the AMAZING fun to the people again.

This year the La Capra goat run, presented by Fairview, will take place on the the 12th November 2011 at the Fairview Wine Estate, Paarl.

Date: 12 November 2011

The highly acclaimed Paarl cheesery also produced eight second prize cheeses and six third places. The annual SA National Dairy Championships judge locally produced cheeses according to international standards, awarding prizes for outstanding production of quality dairy products.

A selection of Fairview goats’ milk and cows’ milk cheeses were entered into the competition this year. La Beryl, Blue Tower, Bleu en Blanc, Cambozola, Chevin with Black Pepper and Paprika and newcomer, Caraway Cheese all walked off with first places at the awards ceremony on the 27^th of April.

“A good all-round performance”, said Louis Lourens, Fairview cheese maker. “It was also encouraging to see our new innovative cheeses receiving mostly second prizes, and a first prize”. Fairview’s dedicated cheese team have been hard at work, developing new and inventive cheeses, some of which are currently on sale at the Fairview tasting room.

Previous winners at the SA National Dairy Championships include the Roydon Camembert and Blue Rock, to mention but a few.

All the cheeses are available at the Fairview farm shop as well as selected supermarkets countrywide.

There has been a lot written about the pressure on South African wine sales in the United Kingdom. The April edition of Decanter includes a review of our country’s Chenin Blanc offering, a grape variety that has received a lot of attention and focus as a key calling card for South Africa.
The Decanter tasting panel sampled 155 wines across a number of price points. The 2010 La Capra Chenin Blanc was the only wine to receive the top rating of 5 stars and Decanter Award. This is a real coup for our Fairview endorsed label, as it outperformed a number of the established top Chenin producers. It also reaffirms La Capra’s value offering, a fact that has already been confirmed by our most important critics right here at the cellar door! The La Capra range has sold excellently since it was launched 18 months ago.

Decanter describes the wine as:

“Cool and complex nose of ripe stone fruit, herbs, guava, nettles and pear. Some attractive grip and distinct skin contact apparent on the palate. A fresh, vibrant and fruity wine with chalky minerality, excellent balance and a long juicy finish.”

We describe it as:

“Ooh, yes I’ll have another glass of that please!”

2010 La Capra Chenin Blanc is currently available at our cellar door in Paarl, but it is unlikely to last long, so get here soon!

You can read more about the Decanter article on our blog.

This trip had inspired the purchase of the farm’s first goats in 1980 and the founding of the Fairview Vineyard Cheesery.
The goat herd today numbers close to 800 and the Fairview Goat Tower has stood as a proud welcoming beacon as the farm has evolved over the past three decades. From the day when Charles’ son left the gate open and discovered that goats do roam, to the guests lazing on the lawns at last year’s La Capra festival, to the dangerous (albeit memorable) naked dash up the steps by various students after a few too many glasses of wine.

There have been many changes at Fairview in the past thirty years, but there are some things that will never change. We will always welcome guests with the same warm hospitality that Beryl and Cyril Back were famed for in the 1980s and the wizened old goats will lazily watch the world go by from the top of their tower.

Today we have visitors who first came to the farm as children, bringing their own kids to see the tower and to introduce them to Fairview. It is great to look back with fond memories on the past few years, as we look forward to the future.
Here’s to the next thirty years!

Share your photos and win some great Fairview wine
To mark the 30th anniversary of the building of the Goat Tower we are going to be running a promotion on our Facebook page.
We are looking for your photos at Fairview with the Goat Tower in the frame. It could be a photo that you took today, but would be great to see some older pictures too. We’ll be giving away a pack of wine every fortnight during February, March and April so please visit the page and encourage your friends to do the same.

The BWI is a partnership between the South African wine industry and the conservation sector. The initiative aims to protect and conserve the existing natural habitats within the Cape winelands. The Western Cape is one of the most biologically diverse places on Earth and in addition to their vineyards many wine farms include large tracts of unspoilt indigenous vegetation. The BWI aims to protect these areas with the co-operation of the land owners and wine producers. This initiative has proved hugely successful to date, and a large number of producers are participating.

Under the BWI agreement, Fairview has committed to continued eradication of alien vegetation, prevention of erosion, an annual plant census, fire break maintenance prevention measures and annual fixed point photography to track the development of vegetation.

Over the past few years, Fairview has engaged in an aggressive program to remove alien vegetation from the farm. The Fairview property borders a nature reserve on the top of Paarl mountain and with assistance from the Department of Agriculture the farm managemet team have cleared large areas of pine trees and blue gums. These areas require constant maintenance to prevent regrowth and this hard work as started to pay off in the last two years with natural vegetation returning.

The fires during the 2009 harvest also burned through areas of pine and blue gum, which assisted to a degree.

A large grove of blue gums has also been removed on the lower part of the farm. These trees, as well as pines, are massive consumers of water and in a fairly dry region like Paarl this has a large impact. Incredibly, during the last 18 months small streams that have been dry for as long as owner Charles Back can recall, have begun to flow again. The only thing that this can be attributed to is the removal of these thirsty aliens. This small event is a huge encouragement for those who have been putting in all the hard work.

Find out more about the Biodiversity in Wine Initiative by visiting their website. Look out for the BWI emblem on bottles of wine and check back here to find out more as the project develops further at Fairview.