Goats do Roam: the story behind Fairview's most playful range

A label with a goat on it and the words "Goats do Roam" looks like a gimmick. It reads as a joke at the expense of Côtes du Rhône, which it partly is. The unusual bit is that the story behind it is true, and the farming it describes came first.

Goats do Roam belongs to Fairview, Charles Back's estate in Paarl. Back did not put goats on the label because it tested well. He put them there because the goats were already improving his vineyards.

What Back noticed

In the late 1990s he saw that the sections where goats had been grazing were in better shape than the rest: healthier soil structure, fewer weeds, less work required. The goats were doing what machinery and chemicals had been doing, only better and for free.

They were eating invasive weeds. Their hooves were aerating the soil. Their droppings were fertilising it. What could have been treated as a nuisance became the basis for how the farm is run.

The name is wordplay, but the wines underneath it are a serious attempt at South African versions of classic Rhone varieties, the same grapes behind Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Hermitage.

What is in the bottle

The range concentrates on Rhone varieties, which suit the Cape's Mediterranean climate almost too well. The red at £13.79 blends Shiraz, Grenache, Mourvedre and Cinsault, all grapes that want warm days and cool nights. The white at £13.99 works with Roussanne, Marsanne and Viognier, which puts it well clear of the average supermarket white blend.

What makes them work is how comfortably these French varieties have settled into South African conditions. The red has the warmth and generosity you expect from the Cape, with enough freshness to stay food-friendly rather than tipping into jam. The white brings stone fruit and a floral note, with sufficient weight for grilled fish or a mild curry.

For anyone used to bottles labelled simply red blend or white blend, this is a step up in both personality and intent, without a step up in price. If you like the style, The Goatfather at £16.49 is the next one along, and our wider South African blends range goes deeper.

Farming beyond the goats

The goats remain the visible part, but the estate also uses cover crops to build soil health, composts organically, and manages pests with as little chemical intervention as it can manage.

None of this is sustainability as a press release. It is practical farming that happens to be better for the land. The goats still handle vegetation in places machinery cannot reach, and they contribute to the biodiversity that keeps the vineyards healthy.

Why the experiment mattered

Cape winemakers cannot lean on centuries of inherited method the way their European counterparts can. That forces a certain amount of invention, and Back's willingness to try unorthodox things is a good example of what comes out of it.

Goats do Roam worked as both a wine and a brand, which showed that innovation and tradition are not opposites. Classic European varieties, farming methods worked out on site, and a result that could not have come from anywhere else.

From Paarl to your table

These are wines for a Wednesday or a Saturday without much adjustment. The red is very good with sausages and mash, and better still with a spiced lamb tagine. The white handles grilled fish or a summer salad, and has enough body for roast chicken with herbs.

If you want to explore further into the same territory, Fairview Shiraz at £23 shows what the estate does when it concentrates, and Fairview Paarl Pinotage at £18.99 covers the South African speciality.

What began as someone paying attention to goats in a vineyard turned into a decent argument that better farming makes better wine. We deliver the whole range across the UK.