“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.

Our Top 100 Winning Trio

Speaking of Fairview’s outstanding achievement, the CEO of The National Wine Challenge competition, Robin von Holdt comments:

“We don’t grant an overall award to a vineyard as best performer. But if we did, Fairview would probably crack that this year, too. Altogether this can only be described as a stunning set of results across the board!”

The National Wine Challenge is in its seventh successful year and each year the judges’ task gets more and more difficult. The selection process is thorough and rigorous as greater numbers of fine wine entries intensify pressure for the limited victory spots. Each and every wine is objectively and independently assessed with great care and professional diligence.

Three Fairview wines each achieved a double acknowledgement, winning both Top 100 and Double Platinum awards. These three wines, each completely different in style, are the Fairview Eenzaamheid Shiraz, Fairview Extraño and Fairview La Beryl Blanc.

Not only did these particular wines stand out, but Fairview also excelled in other categories of the challenge. Double Gold was awarded to the Fairview Nurok 2016, the new release Fairview Rose Quartz 2016 and Fairview Old Bushvine Cinsault 2016. The four Fairview wines that took Double Silver titles this year were: Fairview Viognier 2015, Fairview Caldera 2013, Fairview Homtini 2015 and Fairview Beacon Shiraz 2013.

The maiden release of the Fairview Rose Quartz

The limited release Fairview Eenzaamheid Shiraz 2014 is one in a range of premium Single Vineyard wines that are all beautifully different and completely crafted. The Single Vineyard range encompasses both traditional strengths and current fascinations within every bottle. Using only selected hand-picked and pressed grapes, the wines in the Single Vineyard range are terroir driven and the grapes come from older vineyards. The Fairview Eenzaamheid Shiraz reflects a well-rounded Shiraz with expressive spice and lovely fruit content.

“It is an honour to see the consistency in one of our premium Single Vineyard wines, the Fairview Eenzaamheid Shiraz, and that this Shiraz comes through again and again as an award winner,” says our Head Winemaker, Anthony de Jager.

The Fairview Extraño is the “stranger” in the vineyards – this Spanish-driven blend consists of Tempranillo, Grenache and Carignan. Tempranillo is a relatively unknown variety in South Africa, and one, which the winemakers at Fairview believe is a fantastic variety in our warmer viticultural areas. The Extraño sits within the Fairview Regional Revival Range, a range that speaks about ingenuity and adventure, different regions of the world, exciting styles and cultivars. Each wine in the Regional Revival Range tells its own story. This one allows for a pleasing fruited palate and lingering savoury finish. The Extraño is definitely one of the most food-friendly wines in the Regional Revival Range.

Cheers to our new stranger in town, Extrano!

“For me, the most exciting wine to receive Top 100 status is the Extraño. As a relatively unknown variety for South Africa, it is great to see Tempranillo being recognised by the judges. It is also great to see how Grenache is enjoying the appreciation it deserves and the Carignan, which is from a 47-year-old Swartland vineyard, adds beautiful depth and complexity to the wine,” De Jager adds.

The third Top 100 and Double Platinum wine is the Fairview La Beryl Blanc. Also part of the Regional Revival Range, the wine honours Fairview owner Charles Back’s late mother, Beryl.

“La Beryl Blanc, a traditional straw-dried sweet wine, is a wine we’ve been crafting since 1998. This wine consistently performs well, with a very good history and dedicated, passionate following,” says De Jager.

La Beryl Blanc is a blend of Chenin Blanc from 33-year-old bush vines and young Muscat grapes grown on decomposed granite soils. It reflects a sumptuous dessert wine of balanced finesse with tropical fruit and litchi blossoming upon every sip. It’s ideal to end off a fine meal.

The grapes for our La Beryl Blanc being carefully dried on the straw mats

The National Wine Challenge judges have been astute in identifying the excellence of Fairview’s red wines. These form the core of the Fairview wine range, offering superlative quality, matching value and well-balanced drinkability. Every year, Fairview wines receive top awards both locally and internationally in a variety of competitions. Of note, Fairview is a previous recipient of the prestigious Dave Hughes Trophy for the best South African red wine in The International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC).

Charles Back, the man behind Fairview, comments: “We are very honoured that the National Wine Challenge has recognised the dedication of our winemaking team, and we’d like to thank the judges for acknowledging our work and commitment to artisanal winemaking. Their appreciation – and that of our public – is what inspires us to keep making better and better wines!

The post Fairview takes top honours at the 2017 National Wine Challenge appeared first on Fairview.