Fairview Wine and Cheese

Fairview is one of the oldest wine estates in South Africa, with its origins reaching back to 1693 when the farm was established at the foot of Paarl Mountain. For more than three centuries it has evolved from a simple colonial-era vineyard into one of the country's most distinctive and irreverent wine-and-cheese destinations, owing its character almost entirely to three generations of the Back family.

Charles Back I arrived in South Africa from Lithuania in 1902. He started as a butcher's boy in Cape Town, worked his way up to opening his own butcher shop in Paarl, and in 1937 purchased Fairview for 6,500 pounds. The first Fairview wine had been produced as early as 1699, but it was the Back family who would transform the property from a quiet Cape farm into a commercial powerhouse. When Charles died in 1955, he left the neighbouring Backsberg estate to his son Sydney, and Fairview to his son Cyril.

Cyril Back is the figure who gave Fairview its dual identity as a wine-and-cheese estate. In 1980, he purchased a herd of Saanen milking goats and brought them to the farm, at a time when goat's milk cheese was virtually unknown in South Africa. He enlisted cheesemaker Michele Agostinelli to establish the Fairview Vineyard Cheesery, producing a small range of artisanal goat's milk cheeses sold from the farm gate. The cheesery would grow into one of the most recognised cheese brands in the country.

The third generation brought the estate to international prominence. Charles Back -- Cyril's son, not to be confused with his Lithuanian grandfather -- became one of the most colourful and inventive winemakers in South Africa. In 1981, he built Fairview's now-iconic Goat Tower, inspired by a structure he spotted while visiting a producer in Portugal. The tower became the estate's visual symbol, and the goats' habit of roaming freely among the vineyards inspired the name for what would become Fairview's most famous wine brand. The story goes that Charles's young son Jason accidentally left the paddock gate open, and the goats happily wandered through the vines, showing rare discernment by selecting the ripest berries. The Goats Do Roam range was born from this episode, and following its introduction in 2000, it became the highest-selling South African wine brand in the United States.

Today Fairview operates as a comprehensive wine-and-cheese estate. The wine portfolio spans multiple ranges: the flagship Fairview Collection featuring single-vineyard Shiraz bottlings like the Eenzaamheid (which earned Double Platinum at the 2025 National Wine Challenge), the playful Goats Do Roam and La Capra ranges, the experimental Bloemcool collection, and newer releases like the Altesse 2024 capturing coastal terroir. The Goatshed restaurant serves Mediterranean-style cuisine under Chef SJ Nel, and the cheesery produces an extensive range of goat's milk and cow's milk cheeses including Camembert, Feta, and the award-winning Salada Blanc.

Wine and cheese tastings are available daily from R45 to R105 per person, and the estate's farm shop sells both wines and cheeses for take-home. With 2,471 Google reviews and a 4.6-star rating, Fairview is one of the most-visited wine estates in the Paarl region.