Last weekend, thousands of people found themselves on the road to Gum Spring. Whether they started from I-64 or I-95, each of these travelers would eventually follow routes that would become increasingly narrow.

Max Peple-Abrams hopes, however, that when they reached their destination—the South African Food and Wine Festival, held at Grayhaven Winery—her visitors would discover a culture expansive in its history, its art, and its cuisine.

“Nobody is getting the good word about South African life,” said Peple-Abrams, who co-owns the winery with her husband Deon Abrams, a native of Cape Town. “I visited South Africa for the first time in 1999, and it is so amazing, that country, so different from anything that I thought it would be.”

“The festival is here to show everyone a good time,” she added, “and to promote the wonderful things about South Africa that get left out of the media—the food, wine, dancing, music and crafts.”

The festival was founded three years ago by Peple-Abrams, Abrams, and their chef and friend, Leslie Slome, and is the first South African food and wine festival held in the United States.

Peple-Abrams says that it is the quality of the food that distinguishes this festival from others.

Slome, who grew up with Abrams in Cape Town, invited another chef and South African native, David Jacobson, to help create a menu of dishes including bobotie (a savory meat dish), boerewors (sausage) and biltong (dried meat).

These eclectic dishes even sparked a friendship between Marty Serotta, of Crawfordville, Fla., and Riland Harris, of Glen Allen.

“I ate the South African sampler, and that’s how I met Riland,” said Serotta. “He gave me the rest of his wine—I was dying from the hot peppers!”

There is a Zulu proverb: Blessed are those who please themselves.

Serotta and Harris, who were sitting together at a table in the dining tent, expressed great pleasure at the camaraderie they had discovered at the festival.

“I enjoy talking to people, that’s the most important thing nowadays—getting out, communicating with people,” said Harris. “I found someone to talk about horses, and politics too! You couldn’t ask for more.”

Serotta agreed. “I came because a colleague sent me an email, saying this would be an interesting thing to do on the weekend—it sure is! It’s a very unique festival. And I’m drinking wine, eating, and have met a good friend.”

Festival attendees were encouraged to sample a variety of South African wines, provided by the wine distributor The Country Vintner.

The wine tent was a popular, crowded attraction at the festival, and when asked which wines were the most popular, Ryan Adams, a wine consultant with The Country Vintner, replied, “All of them!”

Peple-Abrams says that she was amazed by the community support of the festival, which attracted about 2,500 visitors on Saturday alone.

The Saturday turnout was larger than both days combined last year,” she said, noting that tickets had been sold to people from as far away as Nova Scotia to the north and Florida to the south.

Peple-Abrams credits much of the festival’s success to the efforts of its volunteers.

“They have been amazing, and come from all fields of expertise and work so hard,” she said. “All wineries rely on volunteers, but this is above and beyond what most people are asked to do!”

And ultimately, the founders and organizers of the festival envisioned that as the festival wound up, when the wine was corked and the tents folded, that festival-goers would head home with a new taste for South African culture.”

“We want to give a sense of what South Africa was like,” said Peple-Abrams. “For my husband, it’s exciting to share his experience and background and native land.”

Photo by Alanna Wiggins
Wine consultant Ryan Adams pours wine for enthusiastic festival goers at the South African Food and Wine Festival held in Gum Spring last weekend.

Photo by Alanna Wiggins
Guest chef David Jacobson, a native of South Africa, joined head chef Leslie Slome to create a menu of dishes such as bobotie (a savory meat dish), boerewors (sausage) and biltong (dried meat).  Here, Jacobson roasts lamb on a spit.