S. African Wine & Food Fest, Gum Spring, VA

Summertime festivals are among my favorite things. I’m not talking about those weekend events where you pay to go camping and watch live music and get stoned and buy bead bracelets and hundred-dollar T-shirts. Those aren’t my jam, I’m talking about eating-and-drinking festivals! Two of my most treasured activities are “Chewing” and “Swallowing,” so events where I get to do these things rank high on my to-do list.

It gets really hot and humid down here in the summer, so by “Summer” I actually mean August and September. That seems to be the official window for outdoor stuff around here.

Grayhaven Winery is a secluded drinkery in rural Gum Spring, VA. We discovered this place one day (thanks, Google!) and really liked the joint. The wine was really good, the owner was friendly and chatty, and he let us pet his horses. It also has the distinction of being less of a “Wedding Venue With Wine” and more of a working, farmy vineyard. I enjoy the bougie places, mind you, with their rolling hills and breathtaking views and carefully curated natural charm. I also like the small, out-of-the-way places that are more in line with being a working farm and winery than in being a wedding venue and Instagram model.

Grayhaven is operated by a South African couple, Max and Deon Abrams, who set up shop here in Central Virginia to grow wine grapes native to South Africa. They host an annual wine and Food Fest which, as luck has it, we were comped a pair of tickets to this year’s fest.

It’s a small place, I wonder how big this thing is. The answer – kinda big, but in a small way. Plenty of people but not so crowded that you get sick of them. Friendly people, too. I find that the smaller the crowd, the friendlier the people are. This aspect increases with the amount of alcohol consumed, of course. I don’t know how many people, two hundred? Three hundred? A million? I’m a bad judge of crowd size.

There were so many wines available to taste and to buy. So so many, there is no chance of you throwing up your hands and saying “That’s it? That’s all we get?” Nah, there is a metric eff-ton of wines. A lot of accents, too, these are South African vineyards, with South African proprietors. There’s a lot to drink, and it was all really really good. I think we bought half a dozen bottles or more. Maybe seven… maybe eight, I’m a little fuzzy on the details. So much wine to sample that before I could finish my VIP tour I had to nope-out, because when I have a whole lot of small sips of wine, like 40 or 50 small sips, I start to get that sour stomach that says “Okay you’re done” and I just can’t drink any more.

Before that, however, we grabbed a couple glasses to enjoy while sitting in a shaded area to watch the bands play. We watched the musicians and ate South African comfort food. Stuff I’ve never had before, stuff I’m sure that I won’t be able to stop thinking about now that I brought it up again. I had a thing called a “Boerewors Roll,” which is a large spiced sausage in a a bun, covered with sauces and relish. My partner had a thing called “Bunny Chow” which sounds like a snarky way of saying “salad” but it’s not salad. Bunny Chow is a small loaf of bread hollowed out and filled with curry. Does that sound good to you? You’re damn right it does! What was I thinking getting the glorified hot dog? Stupid!

The glorified hot dog was pretty amazing though, I wouldn’t hate two of them right this moment.

Eventually, the wine and the warm Virginia sun put me in “Nap Time” mode, so we gathered up our box of wine bottles and headed home. I landed on the couch and had a nap with my cat. Pretty good day.

The 2026 South African Food and Wine Festival takes place the weekend of September 19th-20th. Come drink wine and eat bunny chow!