Dancers Do Roam

It didn't come close to the trip itself, but it was a damn fine way to spend a bodacious Sunday.

On the plus side, it was a 45-minute drive rather than a 21-hour flight to get to the South African Food and Wine festival at Grayhaven Winery.

So my ankles didn't swell.

Driving out to Gum Spring, I was surprised not to see other cars on the back roads leading to the winery.

Pulling into the field near the grape vines, there were only four or five rows of cars parked.

Clearly this was going to be one civilized festival.

I handed the woman at the booth my ticket, she checked my ID and it was time for an immersion in all things South African.

At the wine tent was an array of south African wines - Indaba, Kanonkop, Warwick- and even an attractive winemaker.

Francois Bezuitenhout, winemaker for M.A.N. Family Wines in Paarl, a place I'd been, but since the winery doesn't have a tasting room, it was wonderfully convenient for him to show up here with his wines.

One of my favorite discoveries during my stay in South Africa had been the Pinotage grape, infrequently but occasionally found in Richmond restaurants, so it was a treat to taste through three of them.

Another winery pouring was Fairview, makers of the cleverly-named Goats Do Roam White, Rose and Red and the Goats Roti, a tantalizing blend of Shiraz and Viognier.

I can't resist the floral beauty Viognier brings to the Shiraz.

They even had a picture of a familiar sight, the brick tower at the winery, the one where you're likely to see goats roaming up and down the spiral stairs that encircle the tower.

I talked to a couple who had recently decided while in Italy that their next trip would be to South Africa, answering their questions about which cities and game preserve I'd visited.

My passion got the best of me and by the end of our chat, they thanked me enthusiastically,her saying to her husband, "After hearing that, we are definitely planning a trip."

Wandering around afterwards, I saw a lamb on a spit and heard someone say it looked like a greyhound.

There were South African cured meats to taste, biltong, a kind of jerky, and a chili version that tasted like a really good Slim Jim without the additives and preservatives, and a handsome, smiling South African to answer my every question about the them all.

Lunch was a mixed grill of lamb, chicken and Boerewors sausage, a South African sausage spiced with coriander, with yellow rice with apricots and green peppers.

With a glass of Badenhorst Secateurs Rose, it was time to spread a throw and enjoy some South African entertainment.

All around, the crowd, many with dogs, migrated down under the shady trees to do the same.

South African Mirka and her rock band went first, followed by activist and singer Sharon Katz but the highlight was Tuelo and her Cousins.

Her soulful voice and enthusiastic dancing, long skirt swirling around her, got the crowd up and dancing on the grass before long.

No, I didn't join in then but before the day was over I did some dancing on the grass of my own.

One of my favorite memories of that 2004 trip to South Africa was dancing under the stars at a winery, so maybe it's just something in their grapes that affects me that way.

Give me some Warwick Old Bush Vines Pinotage and there's no telling who I'll ask to dance.

Or maybe there is.