23 Jan The Story of Our Fairview Crest
Have you ever read about the story of our Fairview crest? Our crest embodies all of our values in a timeless design. The crest forms the heart of the entire Fairview range, has a distinctive agricultural feel and conveys the essential elements that encompass Fairview.
Here is each element explained:
1) The farm worker, spade in hand and holding a vine – the fruits of his labour. As far as we know, this is the first label in South Africa, possibly the world, which gives such clear recognition to the role of the vineyard workers. They spend long, hard hours caring for the vines that ultimately enable the winemaking team to make the quality of wine that our customers have come to expect. Vineyard workers have walked a long road alongside the South African wine industry – from being slave labourers, through the fall of Apartheid until today, where farm workers have become land owners and brand owners.
2) The goat stands proud, as an integral part of the history of Fairview. Our brand has a lot of the goat’s capricious nature in its DNA; always looking for new opportunities, not afraid of climbing, sure-footed and quite mischievous at times.
3) The sheaf of wheat not only makes reference to our farming heritage, my late great grandfather owned a flourmill in Lithuania. It also represents the bread which is baked daily in the Goatshed.
The four icons in the centre of the crest refer to the following:
1 ) The key unlocks knowledge and potential, opens doors to new opportunities. The basket press represents the artisanal nature that our winemaking, and cheese making, has retained through the years. The olive tree represents growth and the importance of family. We have recently started producing olive oil on the farm – another element of our ever-expanding business. The deep roots of the tree also represent Fairview as a well-established and trusted brand. And the scroll symbolises wisdom and values.
2) Three stars and a shell sit above the crest and were taken from the imagery on the gable of the Fairview Manor House, completed in 1722. The stars represent guidance and the shell fertility.
3) Collective effort has always been paramount to the philosophy of Fairview, and for this reason our winemaker, Anthony de Jager’s name has been incorporated in the front label. Furthermore, the vintage has been removed from the label itself and separately added on the neck, giving the label a more “classic” feel.
4) Not to entirely lose the reference to our iconic Goat Tower, it has been included in a stylised manner on the capsule of the bottle. It has also been added to the top of the capsule for easy identification in your cellar. We still include the date 1693 – when the first formal farming operations commenced on this property, 281 years before Charles Back I purchased the property.
