The ABSA competition is widely recognised as one of the leading wine awards events in South Africa, and presents a top ten as opposed to the more conventional medals and trophies. Fairview has a good track record at the event, with our 2007 Primo Pinotage having made the top 10 in 2008.

The 2009 vintage of our standard label Pinotage was produced using a blend of grapes from our vineyards in Paarl and Malmesbury and is lightly oaked in used second and third fill French and American oak barrels. This allows the deep, rich fruit flavours to be the focal point of the wine. This supple style has made it a firm favourite, both  with visitors to the farm and Pinotage lovers internationally.

The 2009 Pinotage is currently available at our tasting room, as well as through our online wine sales portal.

The La Capra Goat Run is fun event for the fit, and will follow a 10km route around the Fairview farm at the foot of the Paarl mountain.

Get your goatees trimmed and horns on to win great spot prizes for ‘hairiest’ and ‘horniest’ runners! Our king and queen of the mountain will set the pace to win their prizes and titles. Great other spot prizes, festivities and stunning views of the valley will make it a morning to remember.

Spread the word to your friends, as entries will be limited to 500 on a first come first served basis! We hope to see you there!

You can enter using the online entry form here, or you can simply print out this form, complete it and return it along with your proof of payment for entry. You can either fax these to 021 863 2591 or scan and email to goatrun@fairview.co.za. Please note bank details below.

30th October 2010, starting at 09h00

Entry fee is R75 and includes a La Capra t-shirt and goody bag

Entries are limited to 500 runners

Bank details – Please use ‘RUN’ and ‘YOUR NAME’ as the reference for EFT:

The Fairview Trust
ABSA Paarl
Branch code: 334210
Account number:  01 000 29 1010

You will receive a confirmation mail within 48 hours of receipt of your proof of payment.

We held a promotion which offered South African food bloggers the opportunity to create a recipe using our Fairview Camembert. The public voted online for their favourite three recipes, which were prepared by our chefs at the Goatshed for a taste test to determine a winner. In return for their participation, the winner blogger will have their recipe included as a recipe card with our Camembert in the coming months.

Hila Jonker of the blog Add to Taste was the final winner, with her delicious recipe of Camembert and butbutter springrolls.

Thanks to everyone who submitted recipes, as well as to all who voted in the competition. We are looking forward to working more closely with this group of passionate food lovers in the future.

If you would like to check out there recipes, please visit the Fairview blog, where you will find their blog details in the sidebar.

Until now, the brine has been in the tub to protect the feta from drying out. But by embracing modern airtight skin packaging, our Fairview Feta does not need to waste time with brine. We have introduced smaller packs for convenience (perfect for picnics!) and if you do resist finishing the cheese it will keep in your fridge for up to five days.

If you are looking for some cool ways to use our Feta, keep an eye out for our recipe booklet, which will be bagged with Fairlady ‘How to Cook’ in September as well as the October edition of Sarie Kos. Or of course you can pick one up at our tasting room when you purchase your feta, while stocks last. To get you started why not try a Greek salad the way is should be made, with this simple recipe?

Fairview Feta is available across South Africa in 100g and 200g sizes.

The Goatshed Food and Wine events include a four course menu as well as all of your wine, paired with with each course. And of course there is a great Goatshed coffee included too (or tea if you’d prefer).
This year, two guests will also have the chance to get their meal for free at each evening, through a lucky draw.
These events book up quickly, so if you would like to attend please contact the Goatshed on 021 863 3609.

For more information on the menus for the evenings please visit the Goatshed website.

31st July – Shiraz and Shanks – R210 per person
Undoubtedly the popular of these events over the past five years.

13th August – Shiraz and Shanks – R210 per person
One more for those who weren’t able to get a table at the first one, and usually for a lot of people who book again after the first evening!

27th August – Vintage night – R325 per person
Fairview owner Charles Back and winemaker Anthony de Jager will be selecting older vintage wines to pair with the evening’s menu.

10th September – Spring Break – R210 per person
Welcome spring to the Cape wine lands with a celebration of delicious seasonal fare.

The controversial and unique sound of the vuvuzela is being heard all around South Africa as the nation gets into World Cup mode and we have decided to add the distinctive shape to our cheese packaging for the duration of the event. Our packaging makeover late last year has subsequently won South Africa’s first ever Gold Award at the DBA design effectiveness awards as well as a recent Silver medal at the Advertising Performance Excellence (APEX) awards. The packaging revamp was handled by Coley Porter Bell under designer Victoria Peter, who introduced the Moovuzela to our latest version.

Look out for our Ripe and Ready Brie and Camembert at retailers across South Africa.

Street View allows online users of Google Maps and Google Earth to wander the streets of the major cities of the world, with incredibly detailed photographs encompassing 360 degree views of the locations. After our visit from a Prius equipped with roof mounted camera turret, we have been looking forward to seeing how the visuals translate on the site. And we have not been disappointed!

The launch of the South African views is well timed to coincide with the kick off of the World Cup in just three days and I have no doubt that many visitors will be taking a sneak peak at where they will be staying, or giving their friends and family a virtual tour when they return from their time in SA.

When Google was planning their schedule for the required photography they approached a few Cape wine farms and we were fortunate to be included. According to their information release, this is the first comprehensive tour of a winelands region in the world. You can take a virtual trip through our Fairview vineyards along one of our farm roads, and see the view that gave the name to our farm for yourself. Enjoy.

Here’s a quick link to us on Google Maps.

We have been fortunate to have developed a large base of loyal visitors to the farm throughout the year and this garden will supply the Goatshed restuarant with much of its fresh fruit and vegetables where possible. We hope that you will soon be able to have a meal including your wine and cheese, where everything has come right off the Fairview property! Diane always makes sure that our tasting room is well stocked with fresh flowers and now even more of these will be right off the farm.

Aside from the benefit of organically grown local produce for our restaurant, the garden will also provide additional crops for those living on the farm, and possibly for sale to guests too. We have been running a small garden on a different site on the farm for the past year and the amount of high quality vegetables that we have produced has exceeded the requirements of the restaurant. Our farm manager, Donald Mouton, has been working with a small team of previously unemployed and retired ladies from the community. Their hard work has seen the initial project flourish and has lead to the establishment of this new garden.

“When I was growing up on the Fairview farm, my grandfather and father had many different crops and livestock, in addition to vineyards. Over the years, we have focussed on our vineyards and our goat herd and I am confident that this attention has paid off in the quality of our wines and cheeses. Recently we decided to develop a small organic garden near to our Goat Tower and I am excited at the possibilities that this holds. We are always looking for ways to improve the experience of our guests while trying to remain true to what Fairview represents. This return to farming and the provenence of the soil is a welcome initiative and one that I think our guests will appreciate. The proof, I trust, will be in the eating!” Charles Back

Each year we enter a small number of international wine competitions and our winemaker, Anthony de Jager, strongly suggested that this wine be entered. This was following his assessment of the wines of the 2008 vintage late in 2009. His judgement proved to be accurate, and our Shiraz was awarded a gold medal at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, which was this year held in Sicily.

“The 2008 vintage will be remembered for unseasonable rain and unpredictable weather making the vintage difficult for most producers. Fortunately, most of our vineyards are in drier areas which lessened the impact of the rain and lengthened the ripening season. This proved ideal for flavour development. The selection process, from vineyard to final product, was particularly important with this vintage. Our initial concerns about the vintage have proved to be unnecessary and the wines have surprised us all. I think that this may well be one of our best Shiraz vintages yet.” Anthony de Jager

The 2008 vintage has also seen us move back to cork closures. We have used the aluminium stelvin style closures on this wine for the past few years but have decided to make the switch back. You can read more about this in an earlier post on our blog.

It’s always better to make your own bases as opposed to buying those ready made ones, and a tomato sauce that has been reducing on the stove will make the effort worthwhile!

• Feta cubes, capers, sliced red onions, basil leaves and a sprinkle of mozzarella

• Avocado slivers, smoked salmon, cream cheese, turns of black pepper and grated feta cheese

• Parma ham, red onions, yellow and red peppers, fried aubergines and grated feta

• Avocado and butternut segments, red onion slices, balsamic reduction and grated feta cheese

• A mix of grilled vegetables like baby marrows, aubergine and different peppers topped with grated feta cheese

• Portobellini mushrooms, red onion slices, fresh Italian parsley, grated parmesan cheese and grated feta cheese

• Smoked kippers, white onions, boiled and grated egg, and a mix of feta and gruyere cheese

• Biltong powder, cooked butternut cubes, chakalaka spice, feta cubes and all of folded in to a half moon, in a pizza Calzone style

• Carpaccio style slices of beef fillet, gruyere cheese, olives, peppadews and grated feta cheese