Fairview’s maverick magnate
58, Charles Back from Fairview Wine Estate seems too young to receive a lifetime achiever award.
Several of his colleagues in the international wine industry — including masters of wine (MW) Tim Atkin, Charles Metcalf and Sam Harrop, and wine writer Oz Clarke — however, believe otherwise. They nominated Back for the International Wine Challenge (IWC) Lifetime Achievement Award, which he became the first South African to win in London last month.
“I thought the same,” he laughs, back home at Fairview Wine & Cheese in Suider-Paarl. “I estimate the average age of previous recipients (including influential wine industry names like Sir George Fistonich, Hugh Johnson MW, Jean Marie Chardonnier, Michael Broadbent MW, Miguel Torres and Dr Richard Smart) at around 75. Perhaps I look much older than I am?”
In fact, Back — who, having studied winemaking at Elsenburg Agricultural College, began farming with his father Cyril at Fairview in 1978 — has achieved a great deal in 36 years. Not only was he responsible for introducing new grape varietals like Petite Sirah, Sangiovese, Tannat, Tempranillo and Viognier to the country, he also led the so-called Swartland Revolution in the mid-’90s. This resulted in the successful establishment of Mediterranean and Rhône Valley varietal vineyards in a region previously considered a rural backwater, and saw him launch the Spice Route Wine Company.
SOURCE: Business day Live