The Platter’s Wine Guide is South Africa’s most comprehensive guidebook to the country’s wine industry and awards a maximum of 5 stars to what it refers to as ‘stunners’. Fairview La Beryl Blanc has again been recognised as one of the guide’s 5 star wines in the 2011 edition.All South African wine farms are invited to submit wines to the Platter team annually. These wines are tasted sighted (in other words the taster knows what they are tasting) and then rated according to the star system. Any wine that is recommended for the top 5 star Platter rating is put forward by the individual tasters and all of these are then tasted blind (without knowledge of the label/brand) by a panel of judges.
La Beryl Blanc is named in honour of Fairview owner Charles Back’s late mother. It was one of the first straw wines made in South Africa, in the traditional vin de paille style. This involves the drying of the harvested bunches on straw mats before the grapes are pressed and fermented. This drying results in the sugar levels rising as moisture is lost, and creates the silky sweet character of the wine. Fermentation takes up to six months as the yeasts work in the highly sweet conditions.
The 2009 La Beryl Blanc is made from Chenin Blanc grapes harvested from a 32 year old vineyard on the Fairview farm. After four weeks of drying, the wine was fermented in stainless steel tanks for approximately six months before being bottled in 500ml bottles. The wine shows a lovely balance between fruit and fragrant sweetness and the crisp acidity that characterises all great sweet wines.
La Beryl Blanc is made in small quantities and there is a limited amount currently available at the Fairview tasting room in Paarl.
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