There is a stranger (extraño in Spanish) in the Cape’s vineyards, named Tempranillo. Originally from Spain, Tempranillo now grows in local soils and produces grapes of exceptional quality. We’ve carefully integrated fellow Spaniards Grenache and Carignan – who add spice, fruit and freshness – to help temper this slightly rustic grape variety’s temperamental streak.

Since its release, this wine has been causing waves throughout our Tasting Room, becoming a firm best-seller thanks to its consistent taste, beautiful label and value-for-money. In fact, Extraño was one of our most awarded wines for 2017, receiving a 4.5 star Platter rating, a 2017 National Wine Challenge Top 100 award, and a 90 point score at the Winemag Signature Red Blend Report Awards 2017!

For our final Goatshed Dinner for 2018, we decided to pair a winning wine with a winning cuisine combination. Chef SJ Nel and the Goatshed team carefully curated a menu that will please all palates, while harking back to Catalan-inspired flavours. The event also marks the end of winter, and welcomes in a change of season for warmer weather and later sunsets. Come celebrate – and don’t forget your castanets!

Here is a breakdown of the menu you can expect to enjoy on the evening:

Tapas
Selection of breads, spicy dips & Salami
Paprika chicken Taco cups
Meatballs in Chorizo & tomato sauce
Mushroom Empanadas

Starter
Roasted Linefish & white bean soup

Main Course
Braised beef, potato cake & traditional Pisto

Dessert
Flan de Cafe

***

R325 per person
Wine Pairings included

Click below to purchase your tickets.

The post Extraño Spanish Evening | Our Last Goatshed Dinner for 2018! appeared first on Fairview.

Hi. I am Lyn, one of the longest ‘surviving’ staff members at Fairview. While attending Charles Back’s mother’s funeral in May 1998, I met Fairview’s then Marketing Manager, Jeremy Borg. He asked if I was still convening concerts at the Grande Roche in aid of Drakenstein Hospice. I replied in the affirmative but that I needed to start earning some pocket money to aid my volunteering efforts. He then mentioned Fairview was hiring. I applied and 2 weeks later was happily employed.

Tasting Room | Then

Tasting Room Team | Now

A month later, I mentioned to Jeremy that I felt guilty getting my job at a funeral! He brushed it aside saying, “Oh no Lyn, don’t be – the mafia do it all the time!”. Fast forward 19 years and I am still here and seem to be maturing like a good bottle of red – not yet having reached my expiry date.

Radical changes have occurred here at Fairview over the last 2 decades. When Charles lost his father in 1996, Fairview was the only farm that he owned. We now have several farms in all the major viticultural destinations and specific vines are planted in the terroir that serve them best. For example, our Sauvignon Blanc enjoys the cool breeze blowing off the Atlantic Ocean near Darling on the West Coast. Meanwhile, the Bordeaux classics like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are grown on Houmoed farm in the Firgrove area nearer False Bay and are therefore cooler than Paarl.

Changes in the Tasting Room have also been remarkable. The biggest change to my mind, excluding structural changes in the Tasting Room, have been the new varietals I can offer our guests. In 1998, I poured “the usual suspects” Shiraz, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Pinotage, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Weiser Riesling (now called Riesling) and the then new kid on the block, Viognier.

Wine Tasting | Then

Wine Tasting | NOW

Charles has since uprooted many vines and planted more Mediterranean grapes that can withstand the heat and dry conditions in Paarl and Malmesbury. We now pour Spanish wines such as Carignan, Grenache Noir and Tempranillo, as well as Portuguese varieties such as Souzão and Verdelho. We’ve also updated a lot of our label design, with exciting blends such as Broken Barrel and Extraño.

From a small wine counter in a tiny room serving about 8 people at a time, we now have 5 dedicated serving pods which can accommodate 150 people. Where we were once a staff of 6, we are now a bustling team of 35 members handling over 1000 people a day in season. Our cheese tasting counter once held mounds of cheese samples that guests helped themselves to while ignoring Charles’s sign which read: “Bear in mind this is a cheese tasting, not brunch”. We have now updated our offering to include a curated cheese and wine pairing with 6 cheeses to match 6 wines, providing a more integrated and interactive experience.

Cheese Tasting | Then

Cheese Tasting | Now

At the entrance to the Tasting Room, a traditional garden has been built in memory of Beryl and Cyril Back. Trimmed hedges, a profusion of clivias, white roses and a pond full of Koi fish delight the eye. The trees are 20 years old now and provide shade and homes for many garden birds including the pin-tailed whydah, Cape sparrow, house sparrow, olive thrush and common fiscal to name a few. I watch the arrivals and departures of our migrating sparrows and swifts who leave for warmer climates in autumn and I marvel when they return back to their old nests in summer!

We forget to observe. We are often too busy on our mobiles taking group photos and selfies to see nature play out her amazing adventure. The drama continues high in the sky above Fairview where magnificent harrier-hawks, kites, goshawks, fish eagles and black eagles use thermals to elevate themselves while Lyn muddles along below. Here’s to looking up!

Tasting Room | Then

Tasting Room | Now

The post Fairview: Then and Now (1998 -2017) appeared first on Fairview.

On the 1st August 2017, the second annual Winemag Signature Red Blend Report Awards was held at Villa 47 in Cape Town, with our Fairview Extraño making us proud yet again, winning a 90 point rating by the judging panel. Fairview Winemaker Stephanie Wiid went along to receive the award with open arms.

For this year’s competition, 82 entries were received from 62 producers. These were tasted blind (labels out of sight) by the three-person panel consisting of Christian Eedes, Roland Peens and James Pietersen, scoring done according to the 100-point quality scale. The event called for wines which were “distinctive of their originators” and instead of the usual practice of dividing them into various sub-groups according to style, the judges tasted them as one continuous line-up – the thinking being that the fundamentals of wine appreciation such as complexity and balance should apply when it came to making quality assessments.

This new way of thinking is exactly in line with what Fairview’s Charles Back has always endeavoured to do – planting varieties best suited to our climate and soils – and we are so exalted to be reaping the results of those rather against-the-grain earlier decisions. Made up of a rather unusual Spanish blend of Tempranillo, Grenache and Carignan, our Extraño (meaning stranger in Spanish) is no doubt a bit of a surprise when compared to it’s more traditionally favoured counterparts of Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. But Extraño has really come into its own this year, winning a spot in the Top 100 2017 competition, a bronze in the Wine Label Design Awards 2017 and now a 90 score for the Winemag Signature Red Blend Report. You shouldn’t mind talking to this stranger! Available online for R100. Buy here.

The post Extraño | Our Winner at Winemag Signature Red Blend 2017 appeared first on Fairview.

Rosé is like the under-celebrated middle-child of the wine world- she really does have her work cut out for her when it comes to proving herself. So, fellow wine starter-uppers and equally vino-curious: let’s chat wine basics about rosé. With August already upon us, South African’s are starting to peak their heads out from under the covers and quite literally, defrosting at the first rays of warm sunshine. And with this glorious change in seasons, comes a change of wine. Goodbye to the dark winter reds, and hello rosé. Traditionally, this is a wine that France does right – especially the South of France – with areas such as Provence being kings of the drink. At Fairview, we just released our latest vintage of Fairview Rose Quartz 2017, made using the finest selection of Grenache, Cinsault and Carignan and showcasing the subtlest shade of pink. If you’ve never been into rosé before, here are our top three reasons about why we think it’s time to re-think pink:

#1: Rosé is found right in the middle between the ranges of red and white wine, making it the perfect ‘inbetween’ of wine styles. In fact, it’s often said to be a warm weather drink, because it has a generally low acidity (no tarty feeling in your mouth) and low alcohol (no heat left in your throat once you’ve swallowed), making it an easy-drinking beverage.

#2: One of our favourite things about rosé is the delicate Pantone colour palette of pink it offers – after all, rosé is just the French word for pink you know. Just imagine your picnic basket, stuffed to the brim with juicy grapefruit segments, cuts of salmon laced across thin melba toast and ruby pink slices of strawberry – that’ll give you an idea of the colour range this wine is capable of.

#3: If you’re ever tempted to buy a rosé, don’t fear that they will all be like that candied sweet drink your great aunt stores in her cupboard for unexpected house guests like you. Rosé can be found as both Dry Rosé Wine and as Sweet Rosé Wine, but this is mostly reserved for bulk production (that doesn’t mean bad either). Basically, just know that rosé can, like any wine, also be available in varying levels of sweetness, so you’re bound to find something you like. At Fairview, we have our slightly more juicier Goats Do Roam Rosé, brimming with strawberry and sweet melon, and then our more serious, dry Rose Quartz.

So there you have it. To us, rosé is the perfect blend of affordable, delicate and easy on the eyes and mouth. Go on, try some – get some rosé in them cheeks this Spring!

The post Women’s Day with Rose Quartz Rosé appeared first on Fairview.