Fairview - Pinotage, Paarl - 2020 (750ml)

Wine Composition

100% Pinotage

Winemakers Comments

Bright ruby red color.  Blueberries, violets and plum aromas with hints of dark chocolate. The full-bodied palate followed by plums, dark fruit flavors, subtle oak with elegant tannin structure on the finish. 

Awards

John Platter | 4 stars (2019)

Technical Analysis

Alcohol Percentage 

14.05%

TA

5.6 g/l

pH 

3.61

RS

2.4 g/l

Cellar Techniques

Perfectly at home in Paarl, our Pinotage is harvested from both older dryland bush vines and from trellised vineyards on the Fairview farm in Paarl. The soils are mainly decomposed granite. The grapes were picked over a number of days to ensure perfect maturity of each block. Bunches were destalked and lightly crushed before fermentation in stainless steel tanks and open top foudres. After malolactic fermentation was completed, the wine spent 15 months in 15% new French and American oak barrels, before blending and bottling.

Winemaker

Name: Anthony de Jager

Winery

The Fairview winery at the foothills of the Paarl Mountains was one of the very first wineries to be founded at the Cape in 1693. Just six years later, the first wine was produced. After a turbulent history, Charles Back, grand-father of today's owner with the same name, purchased the farm in 1937 and gave it a new lease of life. Since that time, the estate has been run by the third generation of the Back family - quite successfully. True to the motto 'Go where the terroir is', Charles Back revised the concept of Fairview in the 1980s and experimented with lesser-known grape varieties. This does not only allow a larger variety of wines and optimal conditions for the ripening time of the grapes, but also innovative wine creations which are closely linked with tradition. 

The combination of innovation and tradition also mirrored in the unusual crest of the winery. The goat has become the estate's mascot long ago and has become part of Fairview's identity. A legend goes that some errant members of Fairview's long-established goatherd once escaped from their paddock into the Fairview vineyards after Charles Back's young son Jason accidentally left the gate open. The little group happily roamed among the vineyards, showing rare discernment by selecting some of the ripest berries from the vines. Those berries have been used to make this white blend, a light, bright green, medium-bodied wine with aromas of apricots and pear and zesty acidity.