Fairview Wine and Cheese

Fairview is a wine and cheese estate at the foot of Paarl Mountain in South Africa's Western Cape, with a history tracing to 1693, making it one of the region's oldest wine-producing properties. The modern estate dates to 1937, when it was purchased and restored by the Back family, whose descendants still run it. Its best-known landmark is the goat tower: in 1981, owner Charles Back — who kept a herd of roughly 750 Saanen goats — built a two-storey brick tower with a spiral wooden staircase and windows, inspired by a similar structure he had seen on a producer visit to Portugal, giving the goats somewhere to climb and rest. The estate is also the origin point for its Goats do Roam wine range: according to the family's own account, Charles's son Jason once left a paddock gate open, letting the goats wander into the vineyards and select some of the ripest grapes, which inspired the playful, punning wine label. Today Fairview combines commercial wine and cheese production — it is particularly known for its goat's and cow's milk cheeses — with a visitor program of tastings, a restaurant, and public access to the goat tower itself.