Calitzdorp Port and Wine Festival 2009 (This event has passed)

Description

Go cork spitting and sample the sweetness of the Klein Karoo this mad May. The much-anticipated Calitzdorp Port Festival takes place every second year in this historic Klein Karoo dorp. Surrounded by the Swartberg, Rooiberg and Gamkaberg mountains, the village buzzes with festival activition and offers visitors the chance of seeing and tasting South Africa's best.

Calitzdorp is known as the Port Capital of South Africa and source of the finest Port outside of the wine’s original home in the Douro in Portugal. The festival showcases the best port, with a variety ranging from value-for-money rubys and tawneys, to the multiple award-winning vintage reserve ports from the cellars of Axehill, Boplaas, Calitzdorp Kelders, De Krans and Peter Bayly.

Highlights include an online auction of the Largest Bottle of Port and Best Port, a traditional grape tramping competition, a port symposium, formal and open tastings, cooking-with-port demonstrations, a family adventure cycle race, competitions, birding tours, food stalls, as well as open house at all the cellars for the duration of the festival.

Learn more about food and wine pairing at renowned chef Francois Ferreira's presentation on Ostrich and Wine, or the talk on Chocolate, Wine and Port combinations. You can also get clued up at talks about the bodiversity and succulents of the Klein Karoo and the leopards of the Calitzdorp region.The day ends with local restaurants and guest houses hosting a Portuguese themed dinner. For those who still have energy to spare, the local Bosvarkie Bush Pub promises a party late into the night.

So, why are the Port wines of Calitzdorp so good? Port-grape varieties thrive in a hot, dry, climate such as that of Calitzdorp. There are quite a lot of similarities between the climate of Calitzdorp and the Douro valley in Portugal. The poor, well-drained soils of Calitzdorp, where vines struggle to ripen, are very suitable for port wine production.