But now I am back. I am back at work, and it is really, really quiet. Perfect opportunity to upload some beautiful photos from a beautiful place where my resourceful boyfriend and I spent a weekend in June 2011 unraveling the mysteries of port wine in a tiny little town called Carlitzdorp.
This was my third interaction with the town. The first was on interesting terms. Several kilometers from the town I had crashed my fathers car while seconding a cycling tour he was participating in. Carlitzdorp was to be our stop off for the night and the poor car and I limped into town. I cannot remember the name of the hotel we stayed in and what I saw of the town was one street, in the dark. To add to that first impression the hotel's bartender was dating his cousin, and the next day I suffered from an awful Stroh Rum hangover.
My second encounter was with Anthony. Carlitzdorp was once again to be used as an over night stop for our April 2011 road trip. We got in late one evening, checked into our B & B and started to fall for the little town. Dinner by the fire place, a comfy room to ourselves. Breakfast on the stoop and a drive around the town before leaving reinforced our first thoughts - we have to come back for a weekend.
And what better opportunity than the Carlitzdorp Port Festival? All expenses paid: food, accommodation and activities - Anthony is a writer and had a plus 1 invitation to the weekend event. The weather was beautiful, the town was buzzing, the people were friendly and the port was, well, flowing freely from about 10am in the morning.
True to form we drove into town late and managed to check in just in time join the Historical Tour of Carlitzdorp. We were taken on a walking tour by the local reverend as he told about the founding families and architecture of the various buildings. Anthony and I - always keen for a laugh - soon found a pompous man and his adoring wife to amuse us during the boring parts. While the earnest reverend walked us up and down streets, we laughed at comments like "It's a portrait of elegance. A portrait of elegance" and "fit for an ostrich baron!" Those phrases soon became our favourite form of praise. Everything we saw was a portrait of elegance and everything we tasted was fit of an ostrich baron. Later we found out the pompous man was a radio talk show host whom a fellow guest at our B&B thought was just dreamy.
It was thanks to that tour that we found the most deliciously tender streak - not lying in the road obviously. We walked passed the Karoo Life B&B and Restaurant as the light outside grew dim. We peeked into the window and decided that this was where we were to dine tonight. As we sat enjoying the warm, golden ambiance and trying to finish the enormous portions of food, Marc the owner/chef/manager, dazzled us with his chocolate chilli spread and interesting reductions while he explained to us how loves to cook and was glad for the opportunity of running the restaurant while his wife runs the B&B - he our first hint at how friendly everyone was.
Of course, after a bottle of wine each the night before - red for Ant, white for me - and port and truffles for dessert we woke up pretty late the next morning. Barely managing to get breakfast down our throats we arrived at our first activity of the day which started at 10am: Unraveling the Mystery of Port. Tardy as usual we walked into a crowded room looking coy and made our way to a semi empty table proffering 8 glasses of port each for tasting. As we worked through the ruby, the tawny, the vintage and the... other ports, under the guidance of Cape Wine Masters from Boplaas and De Krans, we knew it was going to be an interesting day. A muffin for breakfast and 8 glasses of port before 11am is a formula for fun, would you not agree?
This was also our second encounter with the friendly folk of Calitzdorp. After we'd unravelled the ports' mysteries and ourselves, we were invited for tea by the couple we had been sharing a table with. We sat with them and talked about all sorts of things, where we were from, traveling locally and abroad, how we were enjoying Carlitzdorp, the house they had built here, their labyrinth designed to match the colours of the various Chakras (insert confused expression) until we had to say goodbye in order to
be on time for our lunch plans.
Boerekos, Port, Bollywood and Ballroom hosted by the very flamboyant Francois Ferreira. It was strange, to say the least, but very enjoyable. Once again we were presented with 8 glasses of port to pair with our meal. Served in 5 courses the food was... interesting. I cannot recall the name of even one dish. After eating and drinking our fill, we were faced with something we hadn't planned for: free time. What were we to do? To the tasting grounds!
In our time there we had not yet visited the actual festive. which was held in and around a big barn. There were food stalls, people selling their hand made crafts and home made preserves, all the Port houses from the area were there representing their fortified wines - and we had tasting cards! In we went and out we came with two boxes of Port wine. Ruby, chocolate, tawny, white - you name it, they had sold it to us and now we were late for the cheese and port pairing.
A Cheese and Wine Celebration it was called and a place for two there was not. So Anthony and I - not wanting to miss out on the cheese - opted for sitting apart. He sat with some old people and I sat with some young people (his company was certainly better). By now, I knew the ports. Two dark ones, two light ones, two pink ones and two somewhere else in between. The cheese... I had never heard of the majority of these cheeses before. I'm not sure I will want to taste the majority of them again. Across the room Anthony was in cheese heaven and going into a cheese coma, strangely in his element between the senior citizens of Calitzdorp.
Later that night we were treated to a Media Dinner because we were media (aherm, Anthony is media, I am just reaping the benefits). There was nothing particularly splendid about the dinner, nothing too unusual - chicken curry with sandals and rolls. The afternoons selection of cheeses were available, albeit on a more daunting scale. Port. There was port. All the bottles that had been opened for tasting needed to be finished. It was a worthy cause and we all accepted it as our honourable duty. The port must not go to waste. We will drink it! Scattered amongst the ports were wine bottles (and grape juice - thank goodness!) and by the end of the night we - myself excluded in this instance - were all quite jolly. From the moment our heads hit the pillow that night we were dead to the world, comforted by the port in our bellies and the knowledge that the morning would bring us the much anticipated Long Table Brunch (and port).
Sunday morning begat the best surprise - its personal so I'm not divulging the details except to say it has made me very happy and no its not a baby nor is it an engagement ring - and an amazing breakfast. We were late, of course. But our new found media friends had saved us a spot. I think that being the only 20 somethings in Carlitzdorp we made an impression so people tended to notice when we were missing. They didn't save us much Champagne however. The long table help 100 people and brunch was served by means of breadboards piled high with delicious and sometimes foreign food and washed down with red and white wine (at 11am, I know, don't judge, it would have been rude to say no) and accompanied by the happy din of chatter. We sat across from the host of Boerekos, Port, Bollywood and Ballroom . Francois entertained us all with his story of being mistaken for a ghost when he was really just broken down on the side of the road. While we laughed we reached across the table for another helping before the platters were taken away and replaced with something different and sipped our wine.
It was a beautiful ending to a wonderful weekend. I was grateful that there had not been more port. I like port - regardless of never having tasted it until that weekend - but I had had enough. The brunch was over, the tasting stalls were being broken down, all the port in Carlitzdorp was finished, and so was our wonderful weekend in the lands of fortified wine. Ahead of us lay Tetris, I mean packing everything and more behind the seats of my tiny Bantam bakkie and a 3 hour drive back to reality - also known affectionately by some as 'home'. 
