Fairview Pinotage 2017

Description

Fairview Pinotage

Fairview Pinotage has dark chocolate and blackberry aromas with a touch of caramel, on the palate this wine shows soft tannins supported by clean acidity.

Fairview Pinotage, ripe fruit follows through wit liquorice and cherry character all the way to the long finish.

Fairview is situated approximately 50 kilometres from Cape Town, on the lower slopes of Mt. Paarl, which is more sheltered from the moderating maritime influence than nearby Stellenbosch. http://www.fairview.co.za/back-family/

It was planted with vines as early as 1699.

The property was bought by the grandfather of current owner Charles Back in 1937 and was subsequently run by his father, Cyril and now by Charles.

The official demarcation of Fairview as a formal farm followed in 1693. A tract of land on the south western slopes of Paarl Mountain was granted to Steven Verwey (thought to have been one of the French Huguenots who fled Protestant persecution in Europe in 1688) by the Governor of the Cape at the time – Simon van der Stel, a Dutch East India Company official instrumental in developing several of the Cape’s first and still finest wine ‘estates’.

Just six years later, in 1699, the first wine was made on the farm. Official tax records of the time reflect a farm ‘inventory’ listing a few barrels of wine among items ranging from bags of wheat to rifles and slaves.

The farm had previously been known as Bloemkoolfontein (‘Cauliflower Fountain’). Current Owner/Vintner Charles Back jests that he is pleased that someone had the foresight to change the name.

The farm’s history until about 100 years ago is chequered, as it was part of no less than eight insolvent estates. Quips the incorrigible Charles again: ‘I’m doing my best to break the habit!’

The farm’s star started rising from 1937 when Back’s grandfather, Charles Back I, bought the property from the Hugo family for the sum of £6 500.

Under Charles Back II’s sure guidance, Fairview has come full circle: from its days as one of the Cape’s earliest wine farms developed by French Huguenot Steven Verwey at the turn of the 17th century, to its current position as one of South Africa’s most successful, enduring, innovative wineries firmly ensconced in the 21st century.

Fairview Pinotage – Hay Wines