Text Marianne Heron Pictures by David Morgan. Source: This article was taken from the February 2011 issue of Country Life.
Calitzdorp and Port belong together like love and marriage.
For the Klein Karoo town on Route 62 between Ladismith and Oudtshoorn is the undisputed Port Capital of South Africa. But just how did the dorp and the drink get together?
A flight of fancy might suggest that a pipe of port lovers settled in the town that produces around 50% of South Africa’s port, and has its very own port route and biannual port festival (16–18 June 2011), but the real explanation is a little more complex.
Port is steeped in tradition, stretching back three and a half centuries, but a visit to some of the seven wineries on Calitzdorp’s compact port route shows how tradition and innovation exist side by side. Gone is port’s sweet image as a mainly winter drink that got blamed for many a hangover. Actually, as any port maker will assure you, it’s not the port but all the other things you drank beforehand that did the damage.
Now the emphasis is on quality ports that lend themselves to every occasion year-round – tawny ports to serve chilled as an aperitif or with a starter, fine vintage ports for after dinner or celebration drinking, novelty pink port to serve chilled, even chocolate port and the familiar ruby port for any occasion.
Port has always been an obsession. What attracts me is the mystery of what we make, seeing grape juice turn into wine – it’s a manifestation of the good things in life
Why Calitzdorp? “There are four reasons,” explains Cape Wine Master and winemaker Boets Nel of De Krans, one of Calitzdorp’s premier port producers. “The hot summers and cold winters favour grape varietals used to make port like Touriga Nacional, Tinta Barocca, Sousao, Tinta Roriz and Touriga Francesa.
The soils are similar to those in the Douro valley in Portugal where port originated, and the hot, dry summers result in wines with a suitably high alcohol content. Last, but by no means least, is the real devotion of our winemakers for port – we want to show the world that Calitzdorp can be as good as the Douro valley,” says Boets, the fourth generation on the farm where his family began fruit farming in 1890, the farm which he owns with his brother Stroebel.
Portmaking is a family thing in Calitzdorp. The first farm was granted to the Calitz family in 1757, while Boplaas is now owned by Boet’s cousin, also a Cape Wine Master, Carel Nel.
His daughter, winemaker Margaux, has just made her first solo vintage and completed her Masters degree at Stellenbosch university, based on a study of wine produced from a single port varietal and vineyard. Her sister Rozanne is boplaas’s marketing manager and the sisters are the fifth generation in a tradition started in 1880 by their great-great grandfather, brandy exporter Danie.
Alongside award-winning wines and ports from boplaas’s 70 hectare vineyards are novelties such as a rose wine, the first ever wine pressed (trodden) by an elephant – an event organised in Oudtshoorn as a fund-raiser – and their velvety chocolate port released last December. “An awful lot of people got chocolate port for Christmas,” laughs Margaux.
But Calitzdorp has attracted a brand-new breed of portmakers too. “I am very lucky – l work in Joburg and farm in Calitzdorp,” says Mike Neebe of Axe Hill.
A regular at the Calitzdorp Port Festival, Mike, owner of the bohemian – a popular media watering hole in Johannesburg – fell in love with Calitzdorp and bought Axe Hill, formerly owned by the late Tony Mossop, in 2007. “Port has always been an obsession, first of all drinking it and now making it. What attracts me is the mystery of what we make, seeing grape juice turn into wine – it’s a manifestation of the good things in life.” Mike has just completed his second vintage at the cellar, known for its Cape vintage and dry white port. “it’s been quite taxing,” says Mike, who is hands and literally feet on harvesting, treading and then winemaking through the night.
“It’s a fantastic lifestyle,” winemaker Peter and Yvonne Bayly agree, surveying their vines that lie cradled in a crook of the Nels River in the beautiful Groenfontein valley. The Bayly’s, in a more stressful existence, managed Ellerman House boutique hotel in Bantry Bay, Cape Town, before planting a vineyard beside their pretty Provençal-style holiday home and moving to Calitzdorp. “I have always been zealous about wine. There is always something to do in the vineyard and we bottle and label our own port,” says Peter, who bottled his first dry white port in 2004.
For winemaker Fanie geyser of Withoek, portmaking is both a passion and a relaxing way of taking time out from his main work managing the family fruit farm. “After drinking port people should be able to recognise your fingerprint on the wine, people talk about the terroir; but there is also the human input,” believes Fanie. Having tasted his tawny port at the clay-walled waenhuis we really liked his signature.
Port provides a perfect excuse for visitors to make Calitzdorp a destination and to discover the quirky charm of a town where a strong river of creativity runs through. Talented residents include celebrated potter Hilton Nel, his protégé Nico Masemola whose endearing ceramic creatures can be bought at Posh Junk Antiques, wildlife film-maker Neil Curry, Karoo photographer Derick McKenzie and painter Marina Combrinck.
Gifted inkomers are drawn to Calitzdorp for all manner of reasons. “I came because of the organ,” Father Noel-Jean Creil tells us as he sits at the console of the fine german-built organ commissioned for the Marseille-vaulted dutch Reform Church completed in 1912. Dr Creil should be declared a national treasure, for he gives visitors a wonderful recital at the church every evening at six o’clock sharp. At other times he is often to be found on volunteer duty at the intriguing Calitzdorp museum, in the old Standard bank building, where he is a fund of knowledge on local family trees and on the history of Calitzdorp’s charming Regency, Victorian and Edwardian houses.
“Succulents,” is the one word explanation for Alex Fick’s choice of Calitzdorp after a career spent based in Johannesburg and the UK. Alex has now started a succulent nursery with the aim of encouraging local people to go the succulent water-wise route. But he has also caught the winemaking bug and just started making his own port.
For those who take the time to explore it, Calitzdorp is full of tempting things to do. Who could possibly resist coffee and home-made goodies at die Handelshuis, where Tracy Farrell and partner Peter Erasmus have restored the old trading store, decorated it with retro posters painted by Marinda Combrink and where you can follow that coffee with a facial from beautician Tracy’s next door salon? Then there’s the irresistible Posh Junk Antiques, rapidly turning into a mini country mall with book shop and coffee shop. This, along with the new Lorenzo’s pizzeria and deli, is run by Lawrence Huckstep, wigmaker at the former Nico Malan Theatre (now Artscape) in Cape Town, and partner Derek Vaughan-Heapy.
And that is just the tip of the iceberg of attractions. Calitzdorp’s super efficient Tourism Manager Erina Meiring can supply a list of things to see from Red Stone Hills to Ebenhart’s handmade pipes to keep you happily occupied for weeks. We can’t wait for a happy return.
- Calitzdorp Tourism 044 213 3775
- Boplaas 044 213 3326
- De Krans 044 213 3314
- Withoek 044 213 3639
- Axe Hill Winery, Mike Neebe 083 676 3000
- Calitzdorp Wine Cellars 044 213 3301
- Peter Bayly Wine 044 213 3702
- TTT Wine Cellars, Ashley Mason 082 490 6707
The Port Story
Port came about as a happy accident of history during the trade wars between the British and French when French wines were banned and English wine merchants turned to Portugal. in 1678 the sons of a Liverpool merchant found a monastery in Lamego where monks added brandy to the dark red wines of the Duoro region to preserve it and so port, named after Oporto, Portugal’s second largest city, was born.
Port Types
Port vinification depends on the rapid extraction of colour and tannins and the blended wine is fortified either with un-aged brandy or wine spirit or a combination of both. it is aged either in the bottle or cask. The South African Port Producers Association (SAPPA) has established guidelines for the previously confusing styles of port so that consumers know what to expect. Under agreement with the EU, the word port is no longer used for export, the fortified wine is described as ‘Cape’. It remains to be seen if the word is phased out in South Africa by 2012 as the EU has not honoured its side of the agreement with payment of compensation.
Cape Vintage Reserve A port of one harvest, from a year of recognised quality. Dark, full bodied, aged for a least a year in wood.
Cape Late Bottled Vintage (LVB) Port of a single year of quality. Dark, full bodied going tawny, aged three to six years, at least two in oak.
Cape Ruby A young fruity blend, aged in wood for between six months to three years.
Cape Tawny A blend of wood matured wine, amber in colour and with a nutty flavour.
Where to stay
The Retreat lies in the verdant Groefontein valley Conservancy. Centred in a century-old Victorian farmhouse, it is just the kind of place that invites relaxation with the promise of glorious walks and delicious dinners (think melting beef fillet with roasted vegetables) in good company with guests and hosts Marie and Grant Burton, and affable pitbulls Donna and Spikey. The Retreat lies on a tempting circular route to the Cango Caves which branches off to the Swartberg Pass and Prince Albert. 044 213 3880
Stunning 180° views of the hills at Calitzdorp Country House persuaded Allan and Lyn Fabig to buy the site for their purpose-built 5-star guest house, presided over by Sarah Jane, the loquacious African Grey Parrot. Furnished with specially chosen antiques, exquisitely presented breakfasts are a feature here, as are silver service dinners (on request). Imagine five courses including marinated ostrich fillet with beetroot purée, onions braised in port and leek infused mash and flummeries with plums baked in dark rum. 044 213 3760
The 1830 Port Wine Guest House overlooking the vineyards on Queen Street in Calitzdorp seems a very appropriate place to stay. Four-poster beds are tucked under the thatch and delicious dinners like goat’s cheese terrine with caramelised beetroot, lamb shanks and flourless chocolate cake are cooked on request by hosts Pierre and Marina Murris and accompanied by Chardonnay and Shiraz from Calitzdorp Wine Cellars (the town’s other big port producer). The house is within walking distance of six of the port producers. 044 213 3131
Self-catering options:
In town include Anna Sophia’s (044 213 3402) and Liefling (083 274 2444).
| More info on the town of Calitzdorp | More info on the Klein Karoo area |
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