Fairview Caldera 2013

Wine of Origin: Coastal
 

Winery Location: Suider-Paarl
 

Cellarmaster: Anthony de Jager

Background: Mention the name Fairview and immediately wine folk think of their excellent range of both popular easy drinking wines and to the more complex wines within their Limited release and Regional Revival Range.

However not only wine comes to mind but also their delicious range of goats and cow’s milk cheeses which started three decades ago, when present owner Charles Back’s father, Cyril Back, purchased his first Saanen dairy goats. Today Fairview is one of South Africa’s leading artisanal cheese producers.

A recent visit to Fairview was to experience their excellent Regional Revival Range (previously known as Winemakers Selection) and the morning started off with Anthony De Jager (winemaker and cellarmaster) and his team who lead us through a barrel tasting of wines for future blending within this range.

The quality was staggering and raised a few questions as to why they will be blended and perhaps a portion to be bottles as a single cultivar….maybe this will be considered in the future!! After this we tasted the current vintages along with an excellent menu of food pairings prepared by SJ Nel who is the head chef of the Goatshed restaurant situated on the Fairview farm. Six wines with six courses……all went down perfectly but the one I enjoyed the most was the Duck served with the Fairview Caldera. This is a blend of Grenache from Paarl Mountain grapes, Shiraz from vineyards in the Darling region and Mourvedre from dryland bushvine vineyards in the Swartland. After fermentation the wines were matured separately in 2nd, 3rd and 4th fill barrels for 17 months prior to bottling.

Named Caldera from the traditional Catalan upright earthenware pot which is used for the preparation of deep flavourful rustic foods.

Result: The wine starts off with attractive spicy plum and earthy aromas. The palate delivers rich and meaty flavours, along with hints of nutmeg leading you to a long savoury finish.

When to drink: Now till 2020

Drink with what: We enjoyed the wine with delicious confit Duck legs served with roasted potatoes, parsnips and pumpkin.

Expect to pay: R150.00