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.

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.

“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.

Fairview was the first to plant and bottle the varietal, and we are now looking back on 20 years of Viognier. Controversial at times, loved, hated or misunderstood; Viognier lends itself beautifully to food pairing, and its’ potential when blended with varietals such as Shiraz, Mourvèdre or certain white varietals, has been influential in the Rhône revolution in the Cape.

Owner of Fairview, Charles Back, reflects on the story:

“I first tasted Viognier in 1989, while travelling in the Rhône. I 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. Upon my return to South Africa, we started the process of sourcing the vines and by the early 1990’s we were harvesting fruit from our Viognier vineyards. Some twenty years later, and looking back on 10 years of bottling this varietal, we are still discovering the grapes’ potential and I am confident that the wines that we are currently bottling are the best that we have made as yet. Viognier is a fantastic food wine, and pairs well with Cape style cooking as well as many of our Fairview handcrafted cheeses.”

Since the introduction of the stunning varietal to our vineyards, our winemaking team have had the fortune and pleasure of working with Viognier regularly, utilising it across a variety of our wines and ranges. We feature it as a single variety in our Fairview Viognier, but it is also used in blends such as the Fairview Nurok and our Fairview Brut MCC.

Anthony de Jager, our Chief Winemaker here at Fairview, shares his thoughts on the French grape:

“The Rhône valley has always intrigued me, and the great wines that the area produces have influenced the direction that my winemaking has taken through my career. Fairview has always embraced innovation and Charles’ perpetual search for new and interesting varietals led us, amongst others, to Viognier. Over the last fifteen years we have been engaging with the complexities of this varietal. While the similarities that the Rhône and the Cape winelands share have provided a successful launch pad, the differences have allowed us to seek out and develop a style that is unique to the Cape. I am proud of what we have achieved to date, and continue to be surprised, inspired and challenged by what emerges each vintage.”

Fairview Viognier is available at our Tasting Room and via our online shop for R100.

SPECIAL: To celebrate 20 years of Viognier, this week we are running a special for R50 a bottle. Click here to buy.

The post 20 Years of Viognier! | Our Heritage Grape appeared first on Fairview.

“There is no more commercially successful cellar door than Fairview. It is because they constantly innovate every single aspect of the customer experience that they have their success”

With a variety of tasting options on offer, there is something for everyone at Fairview – including the many delicious artisan cheeses on offer. Fairview currently has a host of newly released wines, such as Homtini, Drie Papen Fontein, Bloemcool and Broken Barrel, that are all available to sample. Brand new White Rock cheeses including flavours such as Pear with Caramel and Mango with Ginger are also available for tasting.

THE MAIN TASTING ROOM

The tasting room comprises of a number of tasting pods. This unique pod concept was implemented in 2009 and is aimed at creating a more welcoming and less rigid tasting environment. The pods offer a tasting selection of 6 different wines with dedicated hosts to guide and assist guests. There is a wide variety of wines to choose from, including a selection from more exclusive ranges such as the Single Vineyard Range. Your tasting also includes samplings of 6 to 8 of Fairview’s Jersey milk and goat’s milk cheeses. These are tasted at the deli, allowing guests to enjoy their wine and then move across to the cheese section as they seek out interesting pairings and their particular favourites.

Bookings not required, except for groups over 10 people or more.

BERYL BACK MASTER TASTING ROOM

The Beryl Back tasting room is set apart from the main tasting area and offers 1 hour seated, tutored tastings. This tasting room is managed by highly qualified, experienced tasting hosts. Their passion for wine makes these educational tastings highly sought after. The team puts together various tasting options and recommendations, including pairing wines and cheeses. However, guests are welcome to choose from a wide selection of wines, including flagship and Single Vineyard bottlings.

Tastings are limited to smaller groups of up to 6 persons and pre-booking is recommended to avoid disappointment.

CHEESE TASTING ROOM

The cheese tasting pod forms the central heart of the deli offering farm-to-table produce that includes jams and spreads and a vast selection of Fairview’s famous cheeses and fresh, farm baked bread. Visitors to the cheese tasting area can sample a wide range of Fairview’s handcrafted cheeses.

CELLAR DOOR ONLINE

For those who have already experienced wine tasting at Fairview (or are unable to visit the farm) and are seeking a quick and easy way to purchase your favourite Fairview wines, the Fairview online wine shop is the answer! For the first time anywhere outside the farm, the entire selection of Fairview’s wines are available online  at cellar door prices, offering free delivery on 12 bottles or orders over R1000 to anywhere in South Africa. Visit Fairview’s Cellar Door here: https://www.fairview.co.za/shop/

The post Most popular Cheese & Wine destination in the Cape winelands! appeared first on Fairview.