Welcome to the Western Cape Wineries - a kiwi's opinion blog

I originally set up this blog to help foreigners have an enjoyable experience when visiting the western cape wineries in South Africa.

I realised that it is very difficult for a tourist to choose where to go and which wineries to visit, when you have 600+ wine producers to choose from.

When I first moved to SA December 2010, my palate struggled to adjust to SA wine, b
ut after living here for a while and after visiting over 100+ wine estates, I have found many wines which I really like and can highly recommend.

Admittingly, when you come from another country it is hard not to compare the wine in SA to what you are used to back home. However, once you realise they are not the same (they have their own characteristics due to the different soil, climate etc) and appreciate their wines for being SA wines, it will improve your opinion and experience of the wines immediately.

If you are staying in SA for a while, don't dispair, your palate will change, and you will soon find yourself liking SA wine over your home countries wine!!

I hope my blog will help wine lovers have an enjoyable wine experience while in SA.

Please note: I am not a wine connoisseur. The comments I write about the wine is mostly for my own benefit of having them on record.



Tuesday, 24 December 2013

Fairview - second visit

Commercial yet a nice place to visit.

Today we went to Fairview to buy a few bottles of wine. While there we decided to do a wine and cheese tasting for R25 pp. I was really glad we visited this place a second time as we had a really pleasant experience. Thankfully it wasn't too busy when we got there.

When you do a tasting at Fairview you can choose 6 wines to try. They have quite an extensive list so again it can be hard to choose. However, if you know what kind of wine you like, then the staff can help you to choose wine you will likely enjoy.

We had a really good tasting with Samantha. She was really good at her job. She was enthusiastic, polite, pleasant, and friendly. The tasting was informative and she went out of her way to make sure we enjoyed our experience at Fairview.

I tasted the Fairview Darling Riesling (R45) it had a lovely white stone fruit aroma, had nice acidity and a full mouth feeling on the palate. It was off dry. It had a slight bitter/dried apricot finish. I liked this wine.

The Fairview Darling Sauvignon Blanc (R55) I found was a little green.

Fairview Darling Chenin Blanc (R50) was nice, fruity and light. I liked it.

Fairview Chardonnay (R70) was lightly wooded. Not much on the nose. Pleasant on the palate. Quite a fresh taste.

Fairview Viognier (R70) Has the typical peach and apricot nose of a Viognier but it was very faint. Pleasant on the palate but with a stone fruit finish.

Fairview Brut (R120) is a blend of Viognier, Grenache Noir and Grenache Blanc. It was quite fresh.

Fairview Oom Pagel Semillon (R80) was nice and smooth, creamy and very nice. Liked this wine.

Fairview Sangiovese (R75) This is an Italian varietal. It was a little dry for my liking, I got aniseed and wild berries on the nose and on the taste also. It was a light wine.

Fairview Mouvedre (R70) quite light in body, nice fruitiness and a little dry.

Fairview Caldera (R110) had a lovely smell, was smooth on the palate, light and tiny bit dry on the finish. I liked this wine.

The bottle I came to buy was the Nurok and we were really lucky to get a tasting of this also. This was smooth, a little creamy and had pleasant fruit flavours. I liked this wine.

Primo Pinotage (R150) Was light-med in body, dry, little coffee/choc taste.

La Capra Pinot Grigio (R220 for a case of 6) was pleasant and easy drinking.

Between the two of us, we got to taste a nice range of wine.

We then went through to the cheese tasting and got to try 6 different cheeses. We spent a nice amount of time in this area stocking up on preserves, bread, cheese etc.

A visit to Fairview is very pleasant but it is commercial and a lot of people visit this place. I have eaten here a few times and it is also very pleasant and reasonably priced.

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