Mother block vineyards are just like what they sound – the first vines to be grown in a region that give rise to the rest of the same variety’s vines in that region. At Fairview, we are very fortunate and proud to have the original mother block of Viognier, planted in 1997 by Charles Back.

Charles desire to bring the aromatic white variety to the Cape stemmed from a visit to France’s Rhône region in 1989. During his trip, he tried Viognier for the first time, and explains how he was immediately struck by the unique nature of the wine, with its intriguing balance of fragrance, deep fruit and austere structure.

“I knew at once that the terroir of the Cape would be well-suited to Viognier, and as we tasted the wines I was thinking about the soils and sites that I was fortunate enough to have found come across over the years,” shares Charles.

When he returned to South Africa, Charles carefully started the process of sourcing the vines to bring to South Africa – a lengthy, complicated and often laborious process. It’s not easy bringing a foreign vine to local soils! But being determined, by the early 1990’s, Fairview was harvesting fruit from our Viognier vineyards.

Today, our trellised Viognier vines grow on the slopes of Paarl Mountain, on decomposed granite soils. Despite the beating summer sun, the resilient grape results in full, ripe and healthy grapes, and after maturation in bottle, shows its well-loved subtle perfumed fruit and great mouthfeel with every vintage.

In 2017, we celebrated 10 years of bottling this varietal. Our Fairview winemakers enjoy sculpting this variety into various styles, including as a single variety (try our Fairview Viognier), as well as being the frontrunner in our unique Brut MCC, and a leading component of our celebrated Nurok white blend. It’s even featured in our Goats Do Roam White Blend and Goat Roti!

Viognier is very flexible, working in a wide variety of seafood, roasted or grilled chicken, pork, spicy flavors and Asian cuisine. A Malay curry with delicate spice and dried fruits is particularly delicious when paired with Viognier. This Mother’s Day, our recommendation is to grab yourself a bottle (or two) of our very own mother block wine, Fairview Viognier, and celebrate!

The post Our Mother Block | Viognier appeared first on Fairview.

Recently, Flight Network included our tasting room in their ‘fool-proof’ guide to spending 72 hours in Cape Town! We’re so excited to find our Fairview Tasting Room among those on the bucket list destinations! .

According to Flight Network, which is Canada’s leading online international travel agency, travel experts scoured Cape Town for only the best destinations to fill a 3 day getaway with imagination and excitement. The Mother City offers so many wonders to its guests, but Flight Network narrowed down the list to make every second count. According to them Fairview will “sweep you off your feet every second you’re there”.

The writer spoke of our delectable atmosphere, infusing our guests with the exquisite wines for an afternoon of splendour. Our variety of wines are also expertly matched with cheeses to wine and dine the senses. Flight Network’s writer remarked on the friendly environment Fairview offers, perfect for everyone to bond over a delicious array. All travelers and guests who visit us at Fairview know we do things differently. Ingrained in our mission, we hope to achieve a natural, holistic lifestyle which is present in how we create our wines.

With our recognition as a must in a 72 hour Cape Town adventure, we are so excited to welcome new guests to our home. Come visit us for an afternoon of wine tasting led by our knowledgeable hosts and see exactly why our guests with be making more stops here!

Click here to read the full Flight Network article.

The post Our Fairview Tasting Room Recognized as a “Cape Town Necessity” appeared first on Fairview.

“Goats Do Roam has always been our playful, witty brand, and we wanted to offer something a little different to challenge perceptions about bag-in-box wine”, says Fairview owner Charles Back.

The new Goats Do Roam offering is unlike anything you would have seen on wine shelves. Inspired by a handbag, the design is aimed to be both practical, stylish and easy to carry. Keeping to the classic mustard yellow tone, the first Goats Do Roam handbag is a red blend offering.

Now admittedly, bag-in-box hasn’t always had the best reputation. Dismissively nicknamed ‘Chateau cardboard’ in Australia, the general perception is that the drink inside is plonk. Another arguement is why would you go for the bag-in-box option when there are shelves of traditionally bottled wines in every shop?

“For one, you get more wine for less—about four bottles worth in one box. This isn’t because the wine is of lower quality, but rather because boxed wines don’t have the same overhead when it comes to packaging, materials and shipping. The traditional bottling process is costly, and requires glass, corks, and foils. Those materials are heavy, making bottles more costly to ship. Plus, boxes are easy to carry, easy to stack, and take up less space when shipping,” says Goats Do Roam winemaker Anthony de Jager.

There are many more sensible reasons to buy bag-in-box, especially if you’re off on holiday, or to a festival, by car or train. This, along with the increased quality on offer, is presumably one of the causes for the recent 200% rise in sales reported by Amazon in August 2017. On our side, here are 5 reasons we believe bag-in-box is best:

5 Reasons Why Bag-in-Box is Better than Bottle: 

High Quality: Great value, with more affordable packaging – after all, why pay for more packaging when you can pay for more wine?

Environmental Impact: Wine in alternative, lighter packaging reduces the amount of carbon dioxide emitted during transportation. Also, cardboard requires a lot less energy to produce than glass, and both the cardboard and the plastic bags the wine is stored in are recyclable. If you’re a environmentally conscious drinker, boxed wine is the way to go!

Convenience: Sturdy, no rattle packaging that is easy to open and store

No Wastage: Thanks to no air or light accessing the packaging after opening, the wine stays wonderfully fresh for a minimum of 2 weeks, allowing you more time to enjoy the product and no wastage until the last drop. Think about it – boxed wine can last up to 2 weeks after opening, and will last even longer if refrigerated. An open bottle of wine lasts about a week tops before it goes sour!

Camping Buddy: The box makes a great fire starter and the bag a surprisingly comfy pillow

If you’re still not convinced, take Charles’s word:

“Boxed wine has a bad reptuation. While boxed wines have long been associated with poor quality, they’re just like traditional cork and bottled wines—there are good ones and there are bad ones. People just look down on it because it doesn’t come in a fancy bottle, and assume the contents are cheap. But a winemaker’s secret that few know is that, on occasion, we’ll sneak into the cellar to pick our favourite wines and if it is still in the tank or barrel, we’ll use a foil bag to collect some before we head off for the weekend. There’s nothing ‘bad’ about this, and in fact, its just as good or better than some bottled wine. Plus, it’s easy to transport, stays fresh longer, costs less, and is better for the environment!“

So this festive season, we encourage you all to think out of the box!

COMPETITION:
WIN with our NEW Goats Do Roam Handbag!

Think out of the box and get creative with Goats Do Roam! Re-think wine in a bag, and enjoy high-quality wine at an affordable price. Every month, we’ll be giving away a Goats Do Roam wine hamper, with a grand prize worth R5000!

TO ENTER:

1: Head to the most adventurous place you can think of

2: Once you’ve finished enjoying your wine, blow up the empty foil bag

3: Take a photo with our Goats Do Roam mascot located on the foil bag

4: Upload your photo to Instagram and tag @fairviewwineandcheese, or share it on your Facebook using the hashtag #playthegoat!

5: Go on, let your imagination roam far and wide!

The post Goat’s Do Roam Has A Brand New Bag … appeared first on Fairview.