The
rags to riches story of the Back family is inspiring. The original Charles Back
arrived as a penniless refugee from Lithuania in 1902 and worked his way up
from bicycle delivery 'boy' to owning his own butchery. He and his wife were
offered the farm Klein Babylonstoren on the Paarl-facing slopes of the
Simonsberg mountain in 1916 and jumped at it. They sold the butchery and became
farmers. They farmed some grain, some live stock, some fruit and in time, some
wine grapes. The farm was renamed Backsberg. Charles Back also bought the farm
Fairview in Agter Paarl and he left a farm to each of his sons, Sidney
(Backsberg) and Cyril (Fairview). Today cousins Michael and Charles Back own
these two farms. After years of the hard work of four generations, the Back
family have grown very successful and produce wines of good reputations that
sell. This week current CEO Simon Back (son of Michael) invited some media and
wine trade to a lunch to celebrate the end of harvest in Backsberg's new
restaurant, This was to mark the 100th Anniversary of the Back family making
wine at Backsberg and taste some of the newly released wines with lunch
Pierre Jordaan
of Backsberg chats to Alan Mullins MW as we enjoy a glass of Backsberg Brut MCC
2010. The food throughout the lunch was a feast of delights. Canapés were small
falafels with a warm chilli sauce and inspired crisp potato wedges topped with
herbed cream cheese
A long table
had been set up on the terrace in front of the new restaurant
The restaurant
has a great mixture of old and new and feels very relaxed, spacious and
comfortable.
We love the
ceiling of barrel staves and that table in front of the fine is one to go for
in the middle of winter. They serve lunch outdoors if the weather is favourable
and indoors beside a roaring fire in the chilly months. They do spit braais
every Sunday. when the three course set menu is R225 per person. Musician Guy
Feldman provides live guitar music
PRO for
Backsberg Emil Joubert
Simon Back, 4th generation Backsberg CEO, welcomes us and tells us some of the history of the
farm and about the wines and the future
The starter was
divided into four small dishes. Not tapas but tastes said the chef to Lynne. A
warm and smooth sweet potato soup, a lovely smoked snoek Samoosa that tasted of
sea food with a sweet dipping sauce; a slice of spciy chorizo, nicely ripe and
ready Languedoc cheese, bread, Humus and piquanté pepper; Honey roasted baby
beet on goats milk cheese with pomegranate and rocket, all were enjoyable
This was
served with two wines, the well wooded (100% new barrels) 2015 Sonop
Chardonnay, rich and creamy, long layers of fruit and depth with apples, yellow
plums, apricots and a finish of toasted brioche
and the Family Reserve White
blend, an enchanting blend of Roussanne, Sauvignon Blanc Chardonnay, Viognier
and Semillon. It is a wooded wine but we did not find it over wooded. It is
perfumed with notes of flowers, fruit and cigar box. The oily Semillon and nice
acidity lights up the palate then the Chardonnay apples and pears take over for
a long end. A food wine
Simon Back
Chef Wilhelm
Mareé came out to talk about the food
All the wines
now have the Backsberg Centenary label. The Family Reserve red a classic
Bordeaux blend was served with the main course. It is big, but supple and
elegant. We also tasted the Klein Babylonstoren classic Merlot, with incense
and violets, cassis and cherries with soft tannins and chocolate and liquorice
on the end. Ready to drink now but has age to last, a good SA merlot. and the Pumphouse
Shiraz which is like Rolls Royce backfiring very spicy puffs of balsamic
cherries, spice and liquorice, the perfect match for the lamb pie main (Photo © Jan Laubscher, Winetimes.co.za)
Michael Fridjhon
was the guest speaker and he reminisced about his long 40 year working
relationship with Backsberg. He worked for Benny Goldbergs, the first wine supermarket in
Johannesburg, when Backsberg started selling Estate wine in 1969
He reminded us
that Backberg were the founding members of Estate wine in SA and founding
partners in modern wine innovation. They still are an Estate and all the wine
they produce is grown on the farm. They are about the integrity of terroir but
not at the expense of good value
The main
course of a very generous Moroccan style lamb pie wrapped in filo pastry, with
a sticky Klein Babylonstoren wine jus, sweet carrots, minted fig chutney and
fresh fig
(Photo © Jan Laubscher, Winetimes.co.za)
Backsberg has
released a limited edition Centenary Selection of six wines hand-crafted to
perfection by winemaker Alicia Rechner: one bottle each of Roussanne /
Sauvignon Blanc 2015, Cape White Blend 2015, Cape Red Blend 2015, Sangiovese /
Barbera 2014, Grenache / Shiraz 2014, Malbec 2014 for R1170. The carton is
covered with Backsberg labels from the past. Backsberg also produce a Kosher
wine Range: Sparkling MCC Brut; Chardonnay; Pinotage; Merlot; Kiddush. They are
made under the auspices of the Cape Town Beth Din and the OU of the United
States. The wines are Mevushal and Kosher for Passover
Now you are
spoiling us. A glass of the Backsberg Sydney Back Brandy to go with dessert
Lynne's brandy
was spilled on her Cape Brandy pudding, next to it is shortbread topped with
granadilla cheese cake, then chocolate roulade topped unusually with beetroot,
and finally some Dalewood cheese with a fruit preserve, something for everyone
©
John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus
