Klein Constantia Vin De Constance, Sweet Wine | 500 ml

Product Information

The current portfolio of Klein Constantia wine includes the super-premium Estate range and the lifestyle KC range as well as special release wines like the single vineyard Perdeblokke Sauvignon blanc and a Méthode Cap Classique. Anwilka produces a flagship eponymous red wine and a second label 'little brother' red wine called, Petit Frère. Klein Constantia's icon wine remains, Vin de Constance. [17] Cape Muslim heritage [ edit ] Sheik Abdurachman Matebe Shah's kramat in Klein Constantia. In Joris-Karl Huysmans' novel, A rebours, the protagonist, Floressas Des Esseintes, extols the virtues of Constantia wine and takes some in an attempt to alleviate a weak stomach (Chapter 13). Since 2012, they have been gradually evolving the style, striving for balance and freshness, with increased precision. For Day, the aim is to make “a sweet wine that doesn’t taste sweet”.

a b Klein Constantia. "History". Klein Constantia. Archived from the original on 14 April 2012 . Retrieved 4 April 2012.Red wine is where Anwilka comes in – the property that lies 7km from the ocean in Stellenbosch’s Helderberg foothills, and that was merged with Klein Constantia in 2012, bringing the expertise of Hubert de Boüard and Bruno Prats with it. In 1778 the portion of the estate surrounding van der Stel's mansion was sold to the Cloete family, who planted extensive vineyards of mostly Frontignac, Pontac, red and white Muscadel and a little Steen ( Chenin blanc) [2] and extended and improved the mansion. On the death of Hendrik Cloete in 1818, the estate was split, and the upper portion became the property of Cloete's son Johan Gerhard Cloete under the name Klein Constantia. The original Constantia estate was huge, and a long time ago was split into a number of different properties. Since Klein Constantia released their Vin de Constance, neighbouring estates have joined the game: Groot Constantia followed in 2003 with their Grand Constance, and Buitenverwachting have their 1769. In Charles Baudelaire's Les fleurs du mal poem XXVI entitled sed non satiata Baudelaire compares the charms of his beloved to the pleasures of the night and Constantia wine: "Even more than Constantia, than opium, than Nuits, I prefer the elixer of your mouth, where love performs its slow dance." [6] The De Villiers family [ edit ] For Vin de Constance, 2012 was one tipping-point, and 2015/16 another, when the winery was rebuilt (“The most difficult time of my life, pulling out tanks, dealing with contractors,” says Day ruefully). Taste the opulent, thoroughly old-school 2014 alongside the textured, midweight 2016 – the first to benefit from the new facility’s cold skins and upright tanks – and you can see the direction of travel.

I was given one chance to prove myself,” Day recalls. Eleven years on, it seems to have worked out. Devoted to Klein Constantia as they were, Clara and Abraham were determined that the farm should remain within the de Villiers family. As they had no children of their own, their nephew Jan, son of Rocco and Annie de Villiers of Paarl, was designated as their heir, and sent to the University of California at Berkeley for two years to study viticulture. When Jan returned to Klein Constantia he remained until Abraham's death in 1930, when he then left for the Transvaal, returning only in 1955 when his Aunt Clara died, whereupon he inherited the property. With the passing of Clara Hussey de Villiers, the era of glamour and splendour came to an end. [8] The Jooste Era [ edit ] The modern era for Klein Constantia can arguable be said to start when Duggie Jooste bought the estate in 1979 and decided to revive the farm to its former winemaking glory with the help of Professor Chris Orferr of Stellenbosch University. In 1985 Klein Constantia released the first new vintages for commercial sale in over a century. Most recently the Jooste family sold the estate to Zdenek Bakala and Charles Harman in 2011. In 2012 the estate merged with Anwilka and gained two new shareholders in the form of wine world heavy weights Bruno Prats and Hubert de Boüard. The Pittsburgh fortune was not confined to fine motor cars and caviar. Abraham and Clara set about the transformation of Klein Constantia with style and determination. Fine furniture and paintings were brought for the house, they added a dining hall, with a minstrel's gallery, a private chapel, and then a classical pavilion which stood beside a large swimming pool set in landscaped gardens. Uniqueness is an overused term, but there is no other wine like Klein Constantia’s Vin de Constance. Produced from Muscat de Frontignan grapes on the cool lower slopes of Constantiaberg on the Cape Peninsula, it has an ancient history. Early records show how the 10th commander of the Cape, Simon van der Stel, planted the first vines at the estate he called Constantia in 1685; how by 1702 his wines were lauded as ‘divine and enticing in taste’; how the estate was divided up; and how by 1718 it was in the care of the grandson of a freed slave, Johannes Colijn, whose descendants made Constantia’s wines up to the 1850s.

Tasting Notes

Constantia, the first wine farm in Southern Africa, was established in 1685 by the VOC Governor of the Cape Simon van der Stel, and was used to produce wine as well as other fruit and vegetables and cattle farming. Van der Stel, a keen viticulturist, had been the first to recognize the potential of the decomposed granite soil in the sheltered valley facing False Bay and bounded by sea on both sides after he had had soil samples collected from all over the Cape. He chose this area to plant his vines and named it Constantia.

The change of ownership signalled an end to the slightly scattergun approach to Vin de Constance, and the beginning of a more systematic reboot of the wine, from vineyards to winemaking and ageing. It was under the Cloete family ownership that Constantia's sweet dessert wine "Vin de Constance" made primarily from vine-dried Muscat de Frontignan grapes reached the height of its fame. [2] Napoleon Bonaparte had as much as 1,126 liters (297 gallons) of Constantia wine shipped in wooden casks each year to Longwood House, his home in exile on St Helena from 1815 until his death in 1821. The Count de las Cases reported that, on his deathbed, Napoleon refused everything offered to him but a glass of Constantia wine. [3] Viticulture in the Cape region of South Africa dates from 1651 when the first vines were planted by Dutch settlers. Wine was produced from these grapes for the first time in 1658, and in 1685 Constantia was established by Simon Van der Stel as a growing region between False Bay and Hout Bay. Van der Stel planted the first Muscat de Frontignan grapes in the Constantia Valley, thus beginning the legacy of the famous sweet wine of Constantia, best known today as Vin de Constance. The modern era for Klein Constantia's 146 hectare estate really began in 1986, when production of sweet Muscat de Frontignan wine – now known as Vin de Constance – was revived. Alongside this iconic wine, a range of elegant Estate wines are produced, with a particular focus on the variations of Sauvignon Blanc which can be achieved from differing parcels of vineyard. A recent renovation of the winery and cellar allows winemaker Matthew Day to concentrate on attention to detail, making cleaner, fresher wines that could only hail from the inimitable Klein Constantia terroir. Vin de Constance is regularly tasted alongside and compared to Château d'Yquem and other great dessert wines. However, it's fundamentally different in that it is produced from raisin-like Muscat de Frontignan grapes, ripened and concentrated on the vines, usually with no botrytis.

Wine Tasting

In Charles Baudelaire's Les fleurs du mal poem XXVI entitled Sed non satiata Baudelaire compares the charms of his beloved to the pleasures brought by Nuits-Saint-Georges and Constantia wine: "Even more than Constantia, than opium, than Nuits, I prefer the elixir of your mouth, where love performs its slow dance." [8] There are echoes here of Moët Hennessy’s new approach with Château d’Yquem. Coinciding with the release of the famed Sauternes property’s 2019 vintage in early 2022, the company outlined an international by-the-glass programme designed to persuade people to enjoy Yquem young, rather than cellaring it for decades. Bush vines are very important,” says Day. “They bring out a lot of natural acidity because they ripen quite early in the season.”