Friday, 20 November, 2020
Frater Family Wines
Frater Family Wines was awarded Double Awards for their “Eulalia” Chardonnay 2020 and “Connor” Cab blend 2018 and their “David Arthur ” Shiraz Reserve 2017 was awarded Gold.
The event was held on the picturesque Neethlingshof Estate, and wine industry veteran Celia Gilloway and her team ensured that everything ran like clockwork. As convener of judges, Celia ensured the panel was well represented by younger wine adjudicators to make the tasting panels more representative of consumers in general.
Millennials and younger consumers did not grow up in an era with limited choices dominated by a few major producers and developed different taste profiles than the previous generation. They are more experimental and are not dictated to by tradition and are on their way to becoming an influential fine-wine consuming generation.
John Robert Frater, 5th generation winemaker, explains:
''In 2005 I set about replanting the old virus infected vineyards on the farm De Zoete Inval in Paarl.
This has been a carefully planned and researched focus on the production of modern styled fresh, fruity and flinty wines. The poor sandy soils and windy hot and dry summers produce wines of great character and finesse. Out location in the valley frost pocket ensures cold winters even in mild years which is vital for the vineyard.
We spend a lot of time in the vineyards which are kept pristine,all our ducks in a row! Grapes are allowed to fully ripen and even though this sometimes leads to slightly higher alcohols this is rewarded with a full rich palate with soft ripe tannins.
Our red wines are still fermented in oopkuipe(open fermenters) and this is the way it will always be. Together with my small dedicated team we have worked hard to bring to light our new premium wine brand FRATER FAMILY WINES.
We invite you to one of the original family farms of the Cape to taste our REAL wines.''