As the cold winter days arrive in full force, there is one bright silver lining for most school children – the winter term break! While drinking hot chocolate and cosying up under blankets watching family favourite movies definitely sounds tempting, we also know that it might lead to some cabin fever after a few days!

That’s why Fairview invites you to bring the whole family to the Fairview farm on Sundays during the school holiday! Once again, we’ve enlisted the talents of Fern from Art4Kids who will be offering kids art activities in the afternoons at the Gallery Studio (just behind the Beryl Back Master Tasting Room).

Starting from this Sunday 17th June (just in time for Father’s Day) and every Sunday during the school holidays, we invite children to take part in a ceramics art afternoon event. Spend the day ceramic painting a unique art piece!

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Off the coast of the Greek isle of Santorini lies a sea-drowned caldera, a vast crater left behind by one of the biggest volcanic eruptions in history. Once a cradle of heat and magma, today that energy is still channeled into the Mediterranean dishes cooked in cauldron-style pots by locals. To celebrate the warmth and richness of this culture, we’ve crafted our Caldera wine to masterfully match with any meal… and the Goatshed Caldera Evening is just the fit for this experience!

Our sixth Goatshed dinner is coming up on the 24th August 2018: The Caldera Greek Evening!

Caldera was so named after Charles Back’s travels to Santorini in Greece. During his stay, he enjoyed the view of the mostly submerged caldera, located in the southern Aegean Sea, 120 kilometers north of Crete. Upon his return from Greece, he was inspired to create a Grenache-Syrah-Mourvèdre blend that would complement Mediterranean style food, such as the Greek cuisine he has experienced. And so Caldera was born – the oldest member of our Regional Revival Range, and one of our best!

This year, we’ve decided to introduce a strong relationship between the food and wine pairings, by complementing the Goatshed dinners to our most food-focused wine range, titled the Regional Revival Range.

The Regional Revival Range consists of the following 6 wines:
1. Fairview Brut MCC
2. Fairview Drie Papen Fontein
3. Fairview Nurok
4. Fairview Homtini
5. Fairview Extrano
6. Fairview Caldera

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

Mezze
Greek style breads, olives and hummus
Homemade Dolmades
Spinach & feta tartlets
Haloumi & sundried tomato salsa

Starter
Prawn Saganaki & zucchini fritter

Main Course
Baked lamb meatballs with crushed potatoes, baby marrow, aubergine puree and rosemary jus

Dessert
Greek Style Fresh Cheese & Yoghurt tart, apricot compote

***

R325 per person
Wine Pairings included

Click below to purchase your tickets.

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Curated and supervised by Fern, owner of Art4Kids, your children can enjoy a unique experience, aimed at creating an artwork.
There are 3 different options to choose from:

1) CREATE-ON-CANVAS: R100 / 90 mins
Children choose their subject from a book and are guided from start to end.

2) PAINT AN ART BOX: R100 / 90mins
Decorate and stencil onto a wooden box. This can hold a notebook, has a slide lid and can also be used to hold art supplies and stationary. Perfect for a gift!

3) CREATE A SPIN ART CARD:  R40 / card
This is a short activity where your child pours paint onto a spinning card and creates a colourful artwork! For spin groups of five, kids can stay for 30 minutes. Don’t forget to ask for your goat stencil!

To avoid disapointment, ensure to book with Fern via SMS or email:
082 313 0712 / fern@wishbone.co.za

AVAILABLE DATES:

• Saturday, 31st March
• Sunday, 1st April
• Monday, 2nd April
• Tuesday, 3rd April
• Wednesday, 4th April
• Thursday, 5th April
• Saturday, 7th April
• Sunday, 8th April
  Classes are only available in the afternoon, from 12pm – 5pm

FIND FERN AT THE GALLERY:
Go through the Fairview wine tasting section, walk through the gallery exhibiting area on the left, through the doors to the outside & follow the stone stairs up to the Gallery Studio.

See you there!

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The team started at the grape ‘drop off’ point, where our cellar team selects the best quality fruit to be de-stemmed and crushed. This all has to happen rather speedily after picking so that the grapes don’t rot or start fermenting in their skins. Someone asks: “How do wine growers decide when to pick the grapes?”.

Stephanie answers:  “In essence – it’s all about striking the right balance between science and intuition. While most harvests in a region tend to happen within the same general time frame, there will be differences depending on the particular grape varietal and how long it takes to ripen, as well as the kind of wine one wishes to create.”

Next, the team bumbles along to see the press, where we get to try freshly pressed Grenache juice. Still fresh, the Grenache juice is still quite frothy and sweet, as it still needs to undergo fermentation, during which time the sugar in the grapes will turn into alcohol.

Finally, we stop by the fermenting Pinotage in our large wooden fourdres. At this point, we are almost half way through the harvest and have finished most of the white grapes (Sauvignon blanc, Chenin blanc, Grenache blanc etc) as well as the Pinotage. Stephanie explains:

“It has been a very challenging harvest so far, the grapes have ripened 14 days later than ‘normal’ and we have done our best to manage uneven ripening by doing multiple pickings in some of the blocks. The drought has resulted in a much smaller crop, particularly in our dryland vineyards in Darling and the Swartland. But we are very positive about the quality – the first Pinotage which has been pressed has intense colour and flavour”.

Our team huddled around the open vat, smelt the freshly-fermenting grapes, and couldn’t agree more – 2018 looks to be another exceptional harvest.

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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.

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“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!

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Let your kids get creative this Holiday at our Fairview Farm! We are excited to announce that we have Fern from Art4Kids presenting Kids Art Activities this holiday – EVERY DAY – up and till the 24 December (10.30 – 3pm). Find your way to the Barn Artist Gallery Studio for fun filled kids art entertainment!

To avoid any disappointments – Please make booking arrangements with  Fern@wishbone.co.za.
SMS your confirmation bookings to: 082 313 0712

Fern will be keeping the kids busy with the following art activities:

~ Stencil your own wooden art box to take home

~ Create a canvas Painting

~ Create 3 x  Art Spin Cards

Each art activity costs R100 & takes 40 to 60 minutes, age dependant.

Fern puts together her spin art speciality a fun art activity where you get to pour an array of paint onto a spinning card. After that you have the option to stencil a goat onto your art piece.

Fill up your holiday with some colourful art fun for the kids at Fairview. Enough time for kids to be creative & adults to grab a tasting.

Where to find ART4KIDS at Fairview:

Venture through the wine tasting room, turn left into the gallery showroom, venture through the Gallery glass doors, through the wine tasting garden & follow the granite garden stairs up to the Gallery studio.

Art4Kids with Fern where imagination meet the canvas.

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Yes. You read that right! Goat Yoga is now a trend. After first gaining traction in the USA, the animal therapy-meets-exercise concept has been grabbing the attention of everyone, with videos going viral across social media and the key message being about having fun, getting out in nature, bonding with an animal and getting exercise.

As kidding season started on our farm this Spring, we had a light bulb moment. After a round table meeting with our goat herd, our baby goats agreed to hop on board. We are proud to introduce Africa’s very first Goat Yoga! We first tested the concept out at this year’s La Capra Goat Run. Due to the overwhelming response to the pilot session, we have decided to open the paddock to the public! Goat Yoga is all about relaxing – the world is so serious all the time, that sometimes it’s necessary to take a deep breath, stretch and let a baby goat nibble on your hair.

Our baby goats are completely untrained and we let them do what they want. So the only thing you can expect is for each class to be different. Maybe one time the baby goat will hop on your back, maybe another they will all huddle in a corner and sleep. At the end of the day, all that matters is to enjoy a simple and natural class and see things from a different perspective. After all, happy goats make happy people which make a happier world.

Check out our video to get excited! All details below:

From October until December 2017, Raine Dunn of Body Poetry will be leading Goat Yoga classes (featuring the baby goats, of course) every Saturday 9am to 10am at Fairview Wine and Cheese!

*SPECIAL OFFER*

Come enjoy a 1-hour Goat Yoga session followed by a delicious Goatshed breakfast consisting of our home-made granola, Fairview yoghurt, seasonal fruit and honey + your choice of hot beverage. Why not bring a bunch of friends and book an entire class for an end-of-year function or celebration? Spaces are limited, so book now to avoid disappointment.

Special offer: R185 per person (including Goat Yoga + breakfast)

Space is limited to 30 people per class, so bookings are essential to reserve your spot!

You can pay your deposit into the following account:

Raine Dunn
Capitec
1413576360
Lonehill 470010

Use your full name as reference and sms proof of payment to 0837295858.

There are mats available to rent if you don’t have your own, at an extra cost of R10. Please inform Raine if you need a mat, and add R10 per mat to the EFT total. Please be there 20 min before 9am so that you can fill in the indemnity, get set up and enjoy some extra goatie time!

To book, please call Raine at 083 729 5858, or drop her an email at raine@bodypoetry.co.za.

Raine has been passionate about health and fitness since a young age, and always dove into all sports with enthusiasm, with a particular love for horseriding and ballet. She has been practicing yoga for 13 years and Pilates for 6 years, and has been teaching full time for the last 2 years in Joburg. She is passionate about sharing her knowledge of the body, and helping people to heal themselves both physically and emotionally through these two powerful practices. She is also enthusiastic about healthy eating (having attended chef school after matric and later ran a wholefoods blog) and encourages people to take an holistic approach to their health.

In 2016 she opened Joburg’s first Barre Body studio – a high intensity cardio fusion of ballet barre and Pilates. In 2017, having had enough of the big city, she decided to make the move to Paarl, where she will be able to fuse her love of nature with her passion for helping people.

Raine is forever on a quest to expand her knowledge about health, the body and the mind in order to help her clients become the happiest version of themselves.

Check out our gallery to see what you can expect:

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Easter is around the corner, and we have great news – our roads are finally open, meaning no more roadworks! To celebrate this and this special family time, we’re making farm-fresh hot cross buns as a welcome to visitors on the farm. We’ll be open every day across the long weekend, and rest assured, we’ll have plenty to keep you entertained!

For the little ones, our Goat Paddock and Goat Sky Bridge have been a happy hit, and all are welcome to purchase a bag of goat food for R10 to give to Billy and his goat kids as they hop, skip and jump between the Goat Tower and paddock. Meanwhile, for the older members of the family, why not book a tutored 1-hour Master tasting to experience some of Fairview’s finest wines, or head to our country-style eatery, the Goatshed, where you can savour a bottle or two of our lovely Fairview wine paired with the hearty fare? There’s a kiddies menu of course, for when your kids tire of petting our own baby goat kids.

Throughout the Easter weekend, Friday, 14 April – Monday, 17 April 2017, the Farmshop & Deli will be open, selling our artisanal cheeses, farm-reared meat and other treats to enjoy at home.

See you soon!

Bookings essential.
Master Tasting: 021 863 2450
Goatshed Restaurant: 021 863 3609 or book online – https://www.fairview.co.za/goatshed/

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The new skywalk bridge will take the goats from the Goat Tower, across the path to the other side of the garden, where their newly built paddock welcomes them. Here, guests can watch the baby kid goats as they take turns on a “goat see-saw”, balance on a “surfboard” and climb and play on a number of other obstacles. This bigger and fun-filled playground is perfect not just for Fairview’s precious goats, but the whole family, too. Visitors can feed the goats by purchasing a bag of goat food for R10, with a R2 donation going to the Animal Welfare Society for every bag sold.

“During kidding season this year, we decided to bring the goat kids up next to the Tasting Room to give our visitors a chance to interact with our beloved farm mascots,” says Charles Back. “We received such an overwhelmingly positive response that, we created a large paddock for the kids to take up permanent residence right next to our Goat Tower. Here, under the shade of the oak trees, all are welcome to say hello to our goats and build lasting friendships with them. To ensure our older goats don’t feel left out, we’ve added a skywalk from the Goat Tower into the grassy paddock, encouraging cross-generational interaction,” adds Back.

Bring your kids and grab freshly made smoothies or frozen yoghurts from the outdoor bar to cool down, while special boerewors rolls will be on sale. Adults can kick back and experience the wine tasting options in the tasting room, or indulge in the delicious country style menu available at the Goatshed restaurant. Come and visit – there’s new kids on the block! Check out our gallery below:

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