The annual launch of the Platter’s South African Wine Guide along with the announcement of Platter 5-Star wines is one of the mostly keenly anticipated dates on the wine calendar. Fairview has a long history of success in the Platter’s guide and these results are something that Charles Back and the Fairview team look forward to each year. Once again, they were overjoyed with the outcome, being honoured with four 5-Star Wines and to top it all, a pinnacle Wine Of The Year award. An outstanding achievement!
Now in its 44th year of publication, Platter’s judged over 8 000 wines from some 900 producers for its 2024 Guide, with 226 wines garnering 5-Star recognition.
SEE THE LIST OF FAIRVIEW’S 5-STAR WINNERS BELOW:
- Fairview Cyril Back 2020 (Red Blends Shiraz/Syrah-based category)
- Fairview Caldera 2021 (Red Blends Shiraz/Syrah-based category)
- Fairview Primo Pinotage 2021 (Pinotage category)
- Fairview Beryl Back 2022 (White Blends, Other category)
AND THE PRESTIGIOUS WINE OF THE YEAR AWARD WENT TO… FAIRVIEW CYRIL BACK 2020 AS THE TOP-SCORING WINE IN THE RED BLENDS SHIRAZ/SYRAH-BASED CATEGORY!
FAIRVIEW CYRIL BACK 2020
Retail price: R995
Purchase at the cellar door or online at https://fairviewmarketplace.co.za/category/shop-red-wine
Cyril Back, named after Charles Back’s beloved father, is Fairview’s flagship wine. Much like Cyril, this wine is smart, bold and knows no boundaries, with the central goal to bring together Fairview’s best vineyard sites and cutting-edge winemaking to produce an outstanding red wine that is crafted to age for decades.
Tasting Notes: Dark and rich burgundy in colour with a youthful purple rind. The nose is intense with aromas of black fruit, salted dried olive, sun kissed plums, baking spice and savoury broth. Enticingly full bodied on the palate with black berries and savoury spicy flavours. Firm, powdery tannin and balanced acidity promise longevity. Weighty, yet accessible. Ageing potential of eight to ten years under good cellaring conditions.
More details: The fruit for the Cyril Back 2020 is selected from Fairview’s best sites of the vintage. The Shiraz for this vintage was selected from a dryland, bush vine Swartland vineyard and a cool Darling site. A small backbone of Darling Cabernet Sauvignon was also selected (only one barrel) for increased ageing potential. The vineyards are regularly visited during the ripening period and tested by tasting, visual and analytical examination to determine the ideal picking date. The grapes from the different vineyard sites were hand sorted and fermented as separate batches in open oak fermenters (foudres) with fermentation allowed to start naturally. Manual punch downs (pigeage) were done twice a day. After alcoholic fermentation, a few extra days on the skins allowed for extract in the wines, with daily tasting to determine pressing dates. The skins were gently basket pressed and transferred to French oak barrels for malolactic fermentation. Once completed, the wine was racked and returned for barrel aging in a selection of new, 2nd and 3rd fill French oak barrels. After 22 months in barrel, the Cyril Back selection was made from the best of the vintage, exhibiting purity of fruit, expression of origin and age worthy structure. Only six barrels (66% new) were selected for the final blend and aged as a blend for a further two months. The wine was bottled in early Feb 2022, un-fined, with a very light filtration.
FAIRVIEW BERYL BACK 2022
Retail price: Price: R350.00
Purchase at the cellar door or online at https://fairviewmarketplace.co.za/category/shop-white-wine
Beryl Back is Fairview’s flagship white wine honouring Charles Back’s mother. A handcrafted blend of Chenin Blanc, Viognier, Grenache Blanc, Verdelho and Roussanne perfectly encapsulates its namesake’s style, creativity, and strength of character.
Tasting Notes: Pale yellow in colour with layered aromas of stone fruit, papaya and lemon rind framed by complementary oak notes. The palate is complex with layers of herby fynbos and crunchy grapey sweetness followed by pithy tannin, bone-dry minerality and a fresh finish. The fine tannin structure and texture of the wine promise ageing potential and contribute to the balanced length and mouthfeel. Will age well for 3 – 5 years.
More details: All of the grape varieties used in the Fairview Beryl Back are treated individually with basic winemaking intervention. The aim is to for the respective cultivars to express their terroir, to reveal a sense of place. Each component is selected on merit and the final blend tells the story of a labour of love from Fairview’s favourite vineyards on the property. The Chenin Blanc component is made in three distinct styles from the same block, showing off the versatility of the grape. The first component is cold fermented in stainless steel tanks and allowed to age on the fermentation lees for ten months. The second component is Chenin Blanc in clay amphorae and the third component is a small parcel of skin fermented Chenin Blanc, macerated for five days and fermented naturally in older French oak barrels. The Viognier grapes were handpicked and whole bunch pressed. 50% was wild fermented in 2nd and 3rd fill French barrels, without settling the juice prior to fermentation. The other half was settled, inoculated and cold fermented in stainless steel tanks. The Verdelho, a new addition, and Roussanne were fermented in older French oak barrels., the Verdelho adding freshness and Roussanne richness to the final blend. After ten months maturation in French oak barrels and in tank, the wine was carefully blended and allowed to naturally stabilise as far as possible.
FAIRVIEW CALDERA 2021
Retail price: R170.00
Unfortunately, this wine is sold out at the farm.
This classic Southern Rhône-style blend is one of the Cape’s first Grenache/Shiraz/Mourvèdre blends. This wine is named after a ‘calderata’ a traditional Catalan earthenware pot used for cooking, to reflect the wine’s Mediterranean character.
Tasting Notes: Medium red in colour with notes of wild berries, pepper and spice, plums and a hint of wild boegoe. Light to medium bodied and fresh on the palate with flavours of red cherry and hints of cracked pepper with an indulgent and lengthy dry finish perfect for pairing with food.
More details: Caldera is a blend of three Southern Rhône/Mediterranean grape varieties from exceptional vineyards. The Grenache Noir is from Fairview’s Paarl Mountain site (Stok-by Paaltjie single vineyard). The Shiraz grapes are sourced from two cool mountain sites high up on Paarl Mountain and the Mourvèdre is from the lower slopes of Paarl Mountain on the Fairview Farm. The fruit that was used to create the Fairview Caldera was hand-harvested in the early morning. The Grenache Noir, Shiraz and Mourvèdre grapes were all hand sorted and fermented in foudres (open-top French oak barrels). The Grenache Noir had 20% whole bunch grapes added to the bottom of the foudre, for added spice and fruit. The individual components were matured separately in 2nd to 4th fill French oak barrels, foudres and stainless steel tanks for nine months before blending, light filtration and bottling.
FAIRVIEW PRIMO PINOTAGE 2021
Retail price: R475.00
Unfortunately, this wine is sold out at the farm.
A South African classic with great ageing potential.
Tasting Notes: Deep dark red colour in the glass with aromas of bramble, plum, herby lavender and sprinkles of cinnamon and all spice. A brooding palate brims with concentrated dark and red berry fruit and salty liquorice flavours. Bold tannins lead to a subtly dry finish and lingering berry fruit flavours. This wine will age well for up to eight years.
More details: Fairview’s Primo Pinotage is harvested from a bush vine site located on the Fairview farm. The vines grow under dryland conditions in deep duplex Glenrosa soils (well drained sand and clay) with a subsoil that offers high water retention capacity. The vineyards were planted in 1998 with 1.2m spacing between the vines. The vines are carefully suckered in summer (removing unnecessary shoots) and the crop was reduced to one or two bunches per shoot, depending on the vigour of each vine. This resulted in a balanced crop to achieve concentration of flavour and texture in the wine. The hand harvested grapes were destemmed, and hand sorted to remove raisins and green stems. Fermentation took place in open-top French oak fermenters (foudres) and manual punch downs (pigeage) were done two to three times a day. Once alcoholic fermentation was completed, the wine was basket pressed and transferred to French oak barrels for malolactic fermentation, with 40% of the barrels being new oak. In total, the wine spent 18 months maturing in oak barrels.
VISIT THE MUCH-LOVED FAIRVIEW ESTATE FOR A WORLD-CLASS EXPERIENCE!
A pioneer throughout his career, Charles Back has built Fairview from a family farm to a brand internationally known for its wine, cheese and tourism. First and foremost, Fairview is a working farm, housing a collection of micro-businesses all sharing in a common goal – to create artisanal and sustainable produce, with a focus on fine wine, artisanal cheese, free range meat, baked goods and also plant based products. Situated on the slopes of the Paarl Mountain offering ever-growing visitor experiences and eponymous vistas over fields and vines to Table Mountain in the distance, Fairview is one of the most popular destinations in the Cape Winelands.
Fairview Wines: By owning vineyards in Paarl, Stellenbosch, Darling and the Swartland, Fairview has access to a wide range of climates and soils from which to forge their wines. Led by veteran chief winemaker Anthony de Jager, Fairview wines cover an extensive range of styles and price points, from crowd pleasers to serious, age-worthy reds, consistently over-delivering on quality.
Fairview Cheese: Home to Africa’s first goat’s cheese company, the Fairview Cheese Company has become every bit as successful as the wine side of the business. Creating over 50 different cow and goat’s milk artisanal cheeses, Fairview is the biggest speciality cheese in the country.
Tasting Room: Fairview’s world-renowned tasting room consists of four unique custom-designed ‘pods’, offering a variety of wine tasting options expertly paired with selections of Fairview cow and goat’s milk cheeses, with dedicated hosts to guide and assist guests. In addition, the Master Tasting Room offers seated, tutored tastings in an exclusive, educational setting with Fairview’s finest wines carefully paired with Fairview cheese, freshly baked artisanal bread and farm-made olive oil.
Deli: The continually growing offering of the ever-popular Fairview Deli, located alongside the Tasting Room, brims with a diverse selection of home-made local products and sustainably farmed foods. The Fairview cheese is undoubtably the biggest draw card, but there are layers of deliciousness to browse through including condiments, preserves and old-fashioned jams, free-range farm eggs, charcuterie, olive oils, yoghurt, freshly baked artisanal breads, buttery croissants and more. Latest additions are the Biltong Bar, dedicated Farm Butchery section housing Fairview’s fantastic farm-reared free range Red Angus range of dry aged steaks, boerewors and legendary burger patties, and Fairview’s Plant Based Range which harnesses the power of plants in a selection of products loved by any foodie.
Goatshed Restaurant: The popular Goatshed, a country-style eatery where fresh and homemade is always better, aims to bring the paddock and the farm as close to the table as possible. As much as possible, the food served in the restaurant is grown, collected or made right there on the farm – from the artisanal baked bread, cheeses, eggs, jams and preserves to the lamb, beef and pork ethically reared on Fairview’s pastures. The Goatshed reflects the holistic Fairview experience, bringing together everything on the farm.
Goat Tower: Rising above the Goatshed Restaurant stands the Fairview Goat Tower, a Cape Winelands icon. Adored by children and adults alike, it has been home, to Fairview’s beloved furry mascots since 1981.
