Vineyard Consistency Award: 2nd Place Overall (following last year’s 1st place) 

Top 100 & Double Platinum awards
Three Double Platinum/Top 100 winning wines, including: 

Fairview Nurok 2016
Fairview Beacon Shiraz 2014
Fairview La Beryl Blanc 2017

Grand Cru National Champion Best in Class
A Grand Cru First Place in category win

Fairview Nurok 2016

Double Gold awards

Six Double Gold Awards, including:

Fairview Paarl Chenin Blanc 2017
Fairview Rose Quartz 2017
Fairview Caldera 2016
Fairview Homtini 2015
Fairview Extrano 2015
Fairview Viognier 2016

Charles and the team were thrilled with the news, with Charles sharing his thoughts on the Top 100 winning wines below: 

“Much like last year, our three Top 100 winning wines are all so different – which reflects the talent I believe our winemaking team has, as they are capable of traversing various varieties and winemaking styles to produce consistently refined and award-winning wines.

With the drought on the tip of everyone’s tongue, I am grateful that our team has prepared accordingly and that our vineyards continue to yield fruit of excellent quality, giving the wines richer depth and character.  

As far as the Top 100 wines go, Nurok is from one of our more vibrant and most food-friendly ranges, the Regional Revival Range, which highlights the value of using Mediterranean style varieties.

Our Fairview Beacon Shiraz is a favourite from our Single Vineyard range, and I have a hunch that it’s striking new, award-winning label must have added an extra bonus point for its shining performance this year!

Finally, our La Beryl Blanc, a traditional straw-dried sweet wine made since 1998, has been a consistent accolade winner for years. Named after my mother, Beryl, I think this wine reflects her warm and nurturing character, and clearly hits a sweet spot with its dedicated following.”

Overall, the Fairview winemaking team is delighted with our wins, as they span the gamut of our winemaking capabilities. We are particularly humbled by the recognition for our Vineyard Consistency Award for a second year running. Over the decades, the goal has not only been to refine our craft, but to be able to continue on that deliverable year on year, as after all, consistency is only the starting point! 

Cheers to our vineyard, cellar and winemaking team – you are clearly all doing something right!

The post Consistently On Top | Our Top 100 Wins! appeared first on Fairview.

In order to be eligible for the White Blend Report, wines had to contain a Chenin Blanc component of more than 15% and less than 85%. 38 entries from 31 producers were received and these were tasted blind (labels out of sight) by the three-person panel, scoring done according to the 100-point quality scale. Ratings over 90-points were awarded a certificate at the ceremony. We were very happy to host some of South Africa’s most esteemed winemakers and wine opinion formers in our Beryl Back Master Tasting Room, treating all to a veritable cornucopia of our Fairview Brut for starters, followed by a flavourful Fairview Cheese selection and delicious canapés served by the Goatshed Restaurant team! Fairview Nurok is from our Regional Revival Range, made to honour Diane Back’s lineage and inspired by Old World winemaking. It has always been a particular labour of love for the team, read more here. With the label depicting one of Diane’s own paintings, we dare say the beauty of the outside matches the elegance of the inside. A perfect Christmas gift for someone you treasure!

Photos courtesy of: Danie Nel

The post Nurok Scores 92 Points at the Cape White Blend Report 2017 appeared first on Fairview.

Tim Atkin is a well-respected British Master of Wine, and an award-winning wine journalist, broadcaster and commentator. He is also a judge of several international wine competitions and a photographer. Atkin has visited our Fairview farm on several occasions, including on his trip earlier this year, and has built a positive rapport with Charles Back and team. He even introduced Charles Back when he was awarded the IWC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. Click here to see the full video.

When reflecting on the wines he tasted, Tim writes:

“Overall, I am extremely impressed with the quality of what I tasted in 2017. The 2015 vintage, as we know was spectacular, but, in the right hands, the much more challenging 2016 harvest has yielded much better wines than I anticipated. The 2017 whites are crisp and very promising and I have included a number of these in the report. This year I was again delighted to discover some exciting new names alongside established performers. The South African wine scene has never been more exciting or more diverse. You all deserve enormous credit for that.”

Our roll of honour is as follows:

1. Bloemcool Vis & Tjips 2016 – 94
2. Bloemcool Di’Tjie 2016 – 93 (not available yet)
3. Fairview Caldera 2015 – 90
4. Fairview Drie Papen Fontein 2016 – 90
5. Fairview Homtini 2015 – 90
6. Fairview Nurok 2016 – 90

Honourable mentions go out to our Fairview Rose Quartz 2017 and Fairview Cinsault 2016 which both received an 89 score, and our Fairview Chenin Blanc 2017 which received an 87 score.

All our awarded wines are available on our Online Shop (click on the links above to purchase), except the Bloemcool Di’Tjie, which is not available yet. Congratulations to our hardworking wine and cellar team – here’s to you!

Tim Atkin’s 2017 South Africa Special Report is available to download from Timatkin.com for £20 or R345.

The post Our Tim Atkin Raving Results 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.

This year marks the fifth annual Shiraz SA Wine Challenge with about 220 entries received. The results were announced at Rhebokskloof Wine Estate in Paarl. The competition has maintained great prestige and popularity since its inception, no doubt a testament to the popularity of this specific cultivar amongst South African wine lovers.

In addition to our Top 12 achievement, the Fairview Jakkalsfontein 2014 and Fairview Cape Granite Red Blend 2014 were also finalists in the competition. The Fairview Jakkalsfontein is a 100% Shiraz, while the Cape Granite Red Blend is crafted from Shiraz, Grenache and Tempranillo. We were also recognized for our vineyard consistency, having maintained a spot in the Top 12 for the last five years.

“Shiraz has always been a flagship variety for our farm, carrying with it a special heritage and significance,” says winemaker Anthony de Jager.

The Fairview Beacon Shiraz 2014 is dark ruby red in colour, with aromas of white pepper, mixed spice and black cherries. The Shiraz resembles a French Syrah from the Northern Rhone.

Meanwhile, the Swartland Shiraz 2014 has a rich concentrated palate, with flavours of ripe fruits, savoury spices and silky tannins on the finish. Perfumed aromas of cinnamon, dark berries and liquorice can be picked up on the nose. Both wines go really well with red meats, such as lamb and beef, cooked either on the braai or in stews.

“There is so much diversity within the styles of Shiraz – it’s definitely one of the aspects that excites us most. We’re really proud to have so many wines in the running this year, and for two of our wines to be in the Top 12,” says winemaker Stephanie Wiid.

We pride ourselves on our abundance of Shiraz wines that feature in almost all of our ranges. These include a number of exceptional wines namely, the Fairview Cyril Back, our flagship wine named after owner Charles Back’s father, as well as three different Shiraz wines in our premium Single Vineyard range – the Beacon, Jakkalsfontein and Eenzaameheid, a recent Top 100 2017 winner. These wines were created to showcase the powerful difference terroir can make in the ultimate result of a wine. We invite you to come visit all these wines, available from our tasting room.

The post Two in the Top 12 Shiraz SA! appeared first on Fairview.

The Forests

Barrels are made out of oak, so the best place to begin is in the oak forest! France is the largest source of European Oak, and that’s exactly where Steph went – to a large oak forest in Darney within the North East of France. Here, the trees range from 160 to 250 years old (some with bullet holes from World War 1) and are selectively harvested. Traditionally, oak has been used for wine barrels, as opposed to other wood, because it is stronger, denser and contains natural compounds which help improve the quality, ageability and flavour of the wine. The sustainability of these forests is incredibly important worldwide, and in France, there is a certification called the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), ensuring the correct management of these ancient trees. It’s safe to say that every last bit of the tree gets used, and they only cut down as much as the forest can afford to lose.

The Staves

When a block of trees is ready, a wood specialist arrives to assess the quality, and then different coopers from cooperages (the people who make the barrels) bid on the block. Only the highest quality wood can be used for barrel-making, which is generally the straightest part of the tree with the narrowest grain. However, the rest of the tree also gets put to use, with the top part often going to carpentry, while off cuts can be used for firewood. Once selected, the oak tree gets split and turned into staves. The staves are then laid out to air dry for 18 to 36 months to allow the wood to properly ‘season’. Much like braai wood, the seasoning means the wood literally needs to get affected by the seasons – through rain, and snow and sunshine – allowing it to lose that ‘greenness’.

The Cooperage

With the wood now ready, it’s time for the cooper to get to work. The shape is everything when it comes to barrel making, as it needs to be watertight without the aid of glue. Once made, the fun part begins! According to preference, the barrels gets toasted over a fire. Toasting is a process of singeing the inside of the wine barrel to achieve different oak flavour in the wine, and helps transform the tannins so they can soften and mature the wine. Toasting can be light, medium or heavy or anything in-between depending on what the winemaker wants. For example, for our Petite Sirah (which is a wine with heavier tannins), we prefer to use barrels that have undergone short, hot toasting, as the wine can handle a lot more wood than something lighter like a Grenache.

When reflecting on her experience, Steph says:

“As a winemaker, this was a truly valuable experience. There are so many similarities between wine and barrel making – from the terroir and the climate to the involvement of the human hand. It really gave me a larger appreciation for every element of the whole winemaking industry and how the process affects the quality – you can understand why barrels cost as much as they do!”

Even once our barrels are used several times and are no longer usable, we sell them on to our friend Kiewiet, who has ingeniously started recycling used barrels to make beautiful wooden cheese boards, sold in our Tasting Room. The barrels live on perpetually.

The post The Journey of a Barrel appeared first on Fairview.

This year, the word on the tip of everyone’s tongue within the Western Cape is no doubt ‘drought’. With approximately 23% water remaining in our dams, harvest 2017 is sure to take a knock. Says Anthony, Chief Winemaker at Fairview:

“As far as the drought is concerned, Darling and Swartland are the most affected, although we are seeing marginally better crop levels from last year. We’re short on our Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc grapes. But the positive news is that the quality coming in looks good – it’s still early days though, but the fermenting grapes that we already have are expressive and looking good.”

Meanwhile, Stephanie comments on the fact that the white grape harvest is almost complete, with Riesling the only variety remaining to be picked. “I’m happy to report that our white grapes have a fresh, high acidity which we don’t always expect with such warm weather, so this is a welcoming ray of hope with all the challenges facing us. We’ve seen smaller berry sizes, much like 2016, which give lower juice yield on white wine but have a higher skin-to-flesh ratio on the reds”.

With about 3 weeks left to go of harvest on the farm, Annette says she is looking forward to seeing how the Roussanne will show, as the vines have reached their maturity and the grapes looked very promising. “My focus is shifting to the reds now, and I’m particularly excited to work with the Cinsault and Grenache – two aromatic red varieties that are growing beautifully in our vineyards.”

Here’s wishing the best of luck (and energy) to our tireless winemakers and cellar staff team during this period, as they work effortlessly from dusk till dawn to bring us our beloved Fairview wines!

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