Review: Wine and cheese tasting at Fairview Wine Estate
Note: for today’s post
I am taking over from my fiancé that is ill in bed. It’s her birthday but she
is too sick to do the planned review of our visit to Fairview wine estate in
the Western Cape. Any vet worth his salt will tell me it will be quicker and
easier just to put her down.
During my life I have eaten some cheeses made at Fairview, so it was nice to finally be at
the place where the magic happens. ‘Magic’, being the act of letting sour milk
rot until fungus grows all over it. I wonder, who was the bright spark that had
the idea to let milk rot up to the point that it becomes a solid block and then
eat it?
That said, my fiancé and I, like most people, love cheese.
Gouda, Feta, Brie, Camembert, Cream Cheese, etc. All the stuff Weight Watchers
say you have to stay away from. Fairview produces a whole line of artisanal* cheeses
at their cheesery**.
Located close to the idyllic town of Paarl in the Western
Cape, Fairview is a dream come true for people coming from Mordor (Gauteng).
Lush green fields and vineyards set a dramatic contrast to the Gauteng
landscape of burning cars and police officers soliciting bribes from the people
burning in the cars.
Driving into Fairview you are greeted by their iconic goat
castle. A tall tower structure that only goats have the dexterity to climb.
Cows will just fall off and roll into the parking lot.
Lounge in the wine tasting area.
Walk past the tower and into the wine tasting area. The wine
tasting area is divided into two tasting areas – the casual tasting area and
the exclusive tasting area. We headed straight for the exclusive area since you
not only get to taste wine, but every wine is paired with a cheese that
compliments the wine’s flavour. As a palate cleanser, you are served Ciabatta
bread with olive oil produced locally at Fairview.The waiters serving you are very knowledgeable in not only the wine making techniques used on the farm but also the cheese making process. Question them about anything regarding wine tasting and they will be able to tell you. Skin contact, maturing, oak barrel aging versus something something, honestly, thinking back, I can’t remember much. I assume the wine tasting was a great success.
Oak barrels used to age wine, next to the wine tasting area.
Stumbling out of Fairview I reflected how great it is to be
in South Africa. The natural beauty, the people and the food makes this one of
the greatest countries in the world.
*New word I just learned.
**Another new word I just learned. In fact, not even MS Word
spell check knows what a cheesery is.
