Anthony de Jager

Coming Up

Anthony de Jager joined Fairview in 1996 as winemaker and also served as cellarmaster at Fairview. The work sat in the cellar: managing fruit, timing, and judgment so that vineyard material could be carried through to bottled wine with the least possible distortion.

Where They Are Now

Today, De Jager is a winemaker at Fairview in Paarl, South Africa, where the estate’s wine identity is made in practical decisions rather than slogans. The craft here is the repeated task of drawing a line between what comes from the vineyard and what finishes in the bottle, with each vintage carrying the farm’s name and place. Among the wines tied to his work is Fairview Viognier 2009, produced at Fairview Wine Estate in Paarl. There is also Fairview Grenache 2015 Old Piekenierskloof Bush Vines, made from grapes from 1973 plantings in the Piekenierskloof Mountains, a detail that gives the wine a specific rootedness rather than a broad varietal story. In De Jager’s hands, such wines do not simply read as names and vintages; they suggest the accumulation of seasons, rows, and cellar choices. Shiraz occupies a central place in the account of his work. De Jager has put it plainly: "Shiraz has always been a flagship variety for our farm, carrying with it a special heritage and significance." The line describes how a grape can function as house anchor as much as category: a variety that carries continuity, identity, and the expectations built around a cellar’s style.

Signature

Anthony's signature wines include Goats do Roam, Fairview Beacon Shiraz 2014, Fairview Grenache 2015 Old Piekenierskloof Bush Vines, and Fairview Viognier 2009. Together, they point to a cellar voice that moves across styles while staying tied to Fairview’s character.

In Their Words “Shiraz has always been a flagship variety for our farm, carrying with it a special heritage and significance.”

Honors

The clearest accolade attached to De Jager’s cellar work is the Fairview Beacon Shiraz 2014, recognized in the SA Shiraz Wine Challenge 2017 Top 12 Shiraz wines in South Africa. It is a precise acknowledgment: a single vintage singled out nationally, and aligned with the variety De Jager identifies as central to the farm’s heritage. That 2017 recognition also places the 2014 Shiraz alongside the 2009 Viognier and the 2015 Old Piekenierskloof Bush Vines Grenache. Read together, these wines show the range of De Jager’s cellar direction, from estate expression to national recognition, all within Fairview’s evolving story.