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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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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For family proprietors Charles and Raphael, Back is a not only their shared, historic surname but also the name of their newest venture together, a restaurant and deli called Back’s, opening this November along the bustling Main Street of Paarl.

The exciting new bistro-style eatery takes its cues from the art deco French background of Raphael, grounded by a traditional Cape twist from Paarl resident Charles, and is set to become the go-to day spot for locals and winelands visitors alike. Back’s promises to bring a carefully curated selection of options that cater with local flair to all visitors. The flavourful menu will include tapas-style platters made up of homemade pâtés, terrines and sauces to an array of delectable dishes including mouth-watering burgers, scrumptious salads and a range of nibbles such as triple-fried fries and South African classics such as slaphakskeentjies.

Once you’ve had your fill at the restaurant, there is a retail zone featuring a curated deli that offers a veritable cornucopia of delicatessen including Fairview and Spice Route wines available at cellar door prices, breads and cheeses and a selection of Spice Route Destination artisans such as DV Chocolates, CBC Beer and Wilderer Gin. Look out for the specially made Back’s products such as preserves, charcuteries, patisseries and free-range meat that’s all made within the area and not to be missed.

While Back’s offering is vast, their philosophy is very focused: keep it local. Everything in the restaurant and deli is sourced from either the Back’s farms or supports local artisans in the area, with the main goal being to be able to bring you free-range, organic produce that just tastes better. This trending offering of encouraging people to eat local or become “locavores” is the brainchild of dynamic owner and innovator, Charles Back, and his far-removed cousin and business partner, budding entrepreneur Raphael Back.

Charles explains:

 “The inspiration for Back’s came from my long lineage of farming history, with the fundamental basis of everything I do being integrity and quality. Together with my partner’s energy and international knowledge, we are focusing on making an entire range of high-quality products which deliver on both authenticity and value.”

Although the two come from different cultures – Charles was born and raised in the Cape Winelands and Raphael in the cultural hub of Paris – they share a combined passion for sustainable, healthy and wholesome produce and collaboration, which they wanted to express in the creation of Back’s.

After all, the Back family has a long lineage of farming in their family. When Charles Back I first landed on the shores of the Cape, his passion for farming and local produce led him to pursue various artisanal professions, from butcher to farmer. In 1937, he brought Fairview. As a third-generation family owner of Fairview, Charles Back II has continued this legacy, taking the learnings from his winemaking father Cyril to nurture the land. Adding ‘cheesemaker’ to the family repertoire, the Back family really are a collection of butchers, bakers, wine and cheesemakers!  In 2015, Raphael joined the clan, as a budding young entrepreneur, and soon directed the family offering online, creating ‘Maison Bak’, an online food delivery service that quickly flourished in the winelands region. Following the success of their partnership and promoting local produce, Charles and Raphael joined cohorts to create Back’s.

Raphael explains:

“We only sell the highest quality, natural and organic products. When you leave Back’s, we hope you leave feeling inspired to make even the smallest change towards a healthier, more harmonious existence with our land, our animals and our communities. If so, we know we’ve done our job.”

Back’s is scheduled to open on 3rd November 2017. Contact Back’s on hello@backs.co.za to make a dining reservation. If you would like more information about Back’s, please contact Raphael Back at 021 872 0697 or email at raphael@backs.co.za.

Opening Hours:
Mon – Fri: 7.30am – 10pm
Sat and Sun: 7.30am – 3pm

The post Back to Basics | New Back’s Restaurant & Deli appeared first on Fairview.

Baby Toby

From the start, Toby was different. Born 30^th June 2014, Tobias do Roam aka Toby came into the world with an immediate identity crisis and unusual brown and black markings, making him stand out from the crowd. So much so that his initial owners mistook him for a little lamb, and sold him onto Fairview’s farm manager, Donald Mouton, who would come to be Toby’s much loved, adopted dad.

Upon arrival at the Fairview barn, Toby was immediately kidnapped, but not the type you’re thinking of. In goat culture, the nanny goats, being particularly maternal, all vied to mother young Toby, and eventually a few lucky nanny’s ‘kidnapped’ the kid goat and raised him to be one of them. Or so they thought …

Toby, without even trying, stands out from the crowd

Toby and his best bud, Inkukhu the Ostrich

From the start, Toby showed extreme independence – with a capricious nature in his DNA, unafraid of climbing and always looking for new opportunities, he soon grew out of his sweet kid years and became a somewhat rebellious teen, sneaking out of the barn at night and spending his time with the rabble-rouser Inkhuku the ostrich, a long-standing resident of the farm who shared Toby’s species confusion, as she was raised by chickens. Perhaps bonding over their similarities or simply becoming the best of friends, to this day, you’re likely to spot Toby and Inkhuku roaming the Fairview grassy paths like infantry.

Growing into a charming adult goat, Toby proceeded to jump the barn walls (with complete ease, as the walls are low and goats are built to climb) on a regular basis. His favourite activity was to roam the vineyards, hunting for his favourite thing – perfectly ripe grapes from some of our Mediterranean vines. To the delight and surprise of our winemakers, Toby had a real knack for isolating some of the finest blocks of the vineyards where only the best berries grew, and soon enough, he persuaded a few more goats to roam the farm with him. Toby’s unusual, quirky sense of adventure served as the inspiration for our Goats Do Roam range, which sprouted in 2000, and has come to be the best selling South African wine brand abroad.

Today, Toby enjoys spending his time being official ‘cheese taster’ at the cheese factory and of course, mowing the lawn.
Our Goats Do Roam range is available on our online shop. Click here to explore.

Donald Mouton, our ‘goat whisperer’, with one of our precious Nanny Goats

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With a herd of over 900 goats, we employ conscious farming techniques by collecting their droppings to recycle into our very own farming compost.
As a working farm, healthy soil means healthy plants, which in turn means better quality produce. Our farm fresh compost enriches the soil, sequesters carbon, increase soil fertility and regenerates new growth.

Fairview is proud to be one of the few wineries in the Cape that creates this natural compost from start to finish, ensuring we are involved in every step of the process, and know exactly what goes into our lands.

Our goal is to grow – grow our land, our people and our community. Check out our video to see how the process works:

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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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In the early 80s, Charles set off on a trip to Portugal. The goal was to visit the cork industry, as the montado landscape of Portugal produces approximately half the cork harvested annually worldwide. Upon one of his visits, he went to Sogrape Vinhos, producer of the brand Mateus – a medium-sweet frizzante rosé.

After his tour of the building, he headed to the beautiful old garden for a moment of respite. Right there, in the heart of the garden, he spotted the original tower and was completely inspired. Returning home, he sketched his idea to his father Cyril, who thought Charles was mad (as normal), but saw the idea had merit. A few months later, the now iconic Goat Tower was built. When asked why the tower is so popular, Charles naturally responds, “because people like seeing animals have fun”.

Soon after, Charles’s young son Jason accidentally left the gate open to the paddock, and so the little group happily roamed among the vineyards, showing rare discernment by selecting some of the ripest berries from the vines – their adventures being the inspiration behind our Goats Do Roam range. The rest is history, and it comes as little surprise that we’ve selected our cheese makers, smile givers and beloved furry friends as our very own mascot.

Tags: Blog, Goats, Newsletters and tagged Charles Back, cork, Fairview, goat tower, Goats, Goats do Roam, Mateus, Portugal, Sogrape Vinhos.

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