Description
Fairview Cyril Back 2023 is a serious Coastal Region red built from top vineyard parcels across Darling, Paarl, and Stellenbosch, bringing together richness, spice, and structure in a style shaped for both immediate impact and patient cellaring. While Shiraz leads the identity here, the wine shows the breadth and layered composition of a carefully selected multi-site blend, combining dark fruit weight with freshness and a more restrained, age-worthy frame.
The nose opens with dark berries, ripe plum, subtle licorice, and warm oak spice. On the palate, the wine is rich and full-bodied, with concentrated dark fruit supported by fine, powdery tannins that give it shape without making it feel overly hard or heavy. There is plenty of depth here, but also enough balance to keep the finish steady, long, and composed. It would pair especially well with grilled lamb, beef short ribs, venison, or slow-cooked meats, where its fruit concentration and savory structure can settle naturally into the dish.
Already impressive in its youth, this is a wine with the presence and backbone to evolve gracefully over the next decade under good cellaring conditions.
Ratings/Accolades:
National Wine Challenge: Double Platinum & Top 100 SA Wines
The nose opens with dark berries, ripe plum, subtle licorice, and warm oak spice. On the palate, the wine is rich and full-bodied, with concentrated dark fruit supported by fine, powdery tannins that give it shape without making it feel overly hard or heavy. There is plenty of depth here, but also enough balance to keep the finish steady, long, and composed. It would pair especially well with grilled lamb, beef short ribs, venison, or slow-cooked meats, where its fruit concentration and savory structure can settle naturally into the dish.
Already impressive in its youth, this is a wine with the presence and backbone to evolve gracefully over the next decade under good cellaring conditions.
Ratings/Accolades:
National Wine Challenge: Double Platinum & Top 100 SA Wines
The wine was made from select Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon parcels handpicked from cool-climate Darling, spice-driven Paarl, and classic Stellenbosch vineyards. Fermentation took place naturally in open oak fermenters with gentle punch-downs, followed by extended skin contact to build depth and structure. The wine was then aged for 19 months in French oak, with 30% new barrels, and bottled unfined to preserve purity, texture, and aging potential.
Winemaker: Anthony de Jager
Winemaker: Anthony de Jager
Fairview is a working farm, housing a collection of micro-businesses all sharing in a common goal – to create artisanal and sustainable produce, with a focus on fine wine and cheese. Everything they do is driven by their philosophy of being honest, honoring their heritage and ensuring their ingenuity. Eager to explore a wider range of wines using grapes grown in optimal conditions, Charles Back abandoned the estate wine concept in the 1980s, choosing rather to “go where the terroir is”. Today, they are one of the few farms that proudly own all their own vineyards, with land in Paarl, Darling, Swartland and Stellenbosch.
* Prior vintage described.
