Klein Constantia, established in 1685, is renowned as one of the world’s most beautiful wine estates, nestled on the upper foothills of the Constantiaberg with views across False Bay. Originally part of Constantia, the 146-hectare estate, it boasts decomposed granite soils and cool ocean breezes, ideal for producing premium South African wines, including the celebrated natural sweet wine, Vin de Constance. Historically favoured by notable figures such as Napoleon, Baudelaire, European royalty, and global presidents, Vin de Constance continues to captivate discerning palates worldwide with its unwavering commitment to quality.
The 2022 vintage stood out for its intensity and precision, shaped by a late start and a condensed harvest window. Warm, dry conditions dominated the season, with minimal rainfall and increased sun exposure contributing to excellent ripening. The growing season brought some pressure due to wind and heat, but balanced canopy growth and careful vineyard management delivered fruit of exceptional quality. Temperatures remained steady throughout harvest, avoiding the intense heat spikes often seen in late summer in the Cape.
Tasting with head winemaker Matt Day.
I recently joined head winemaker and cellar master Matt Day at Klein Constantia to taste not only the phenomenal new release 2022 Vin de Constance, but also to run through a number of impressive back vintages.
Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 2014, WO Constantia
Deliciously fresh and vibrant, the wine saw a two-week maceration on skins before 36 months in barrel. The aromatics are packed with peaches, apricot, dried orchard fruits, freshly baked fruit pastries, and marmalade jam nuances. The palate is delightfully fresh and zippy, beautifully balancing sweetness and a tangy acid freshness. Lovey focus showing a delicate toffee apple sweetness and a seductive, salty, tarte tatin finish. A wine of beauty that is maturing exceptionally well. Drink now to 2040+.
(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Klein Constantia fermentation cellar.
Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 2017, WO Constantia
Cool and elegant with the aromatics displaying a pithy, citrusy freshness with hints of toffee apples, dried apricots, and peach puree notes. The palate is full and glycerol, dense, enticingly sweet and peachy with a creamy, opulent finish. Great weight and sweetness but very well balanced. Drink now to 2045+.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 2021, WO Constantia
An incredibly accomplished Vin de Constance, the 2021 is impressively taut, bright, and nervy, showing pithy citrus and a crunchy white peach freshness. There is incredible tension and an acid frame of note with underlying hints of passionfruit, peach, guava, and marmalade depth. An astounding density and freshness with balance, focus and length. Power packed but oh so elegant. A true classic. Drink now to 2060+.
(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 2022, WO Constantia, 13.5% Abv.
Coming from a warmer shorter season, the final wine was blended from 18 batches (normally around 25). The 2022 Vin de Constance shows aromatics of freshly melted honey, barley sugar, boiled sweets, passionfruit confit, quince, a gentle sapidity and apple puree nuances with hints of savoury freshly baked apple strudel notes on the nose. The palate is incredibly dense, compact, and tight knit, quite weighty and full bodied in texture, but also incredibly creamy and picante, sweet and plush after an incredible 36 months in 4,200 litre wooden foudre, boasting notes of dried mango, nectarine, lychee, and white peach. This is an impactful Vin de Constance that displays both power and intensity alongside a regal elegance and freshness that bestows the wine with an incredible harmony and balance. Drink on release and over the next 40+ years.
As the anticipation builds across global markets for the impending new release of the 2021 Vin de Constance, I was fortuitously seduced by a bottle of the current release 2020 in my cellar. Hot off the heels of scoring the iconic Mullineux Wines Olerasay 4º Straw Wine a hefty 99/100, I thought it wise to recalibrate my palate ahead of tasting the 2021 Vin de Constance. As clearly the top two sweet wine icons in South Africa, these two wines, on their own, have done more than any others to re-invigorate the sweet wine category globally, reminding fine wine collectors and connoisseurs that no cellar collection is complete without at least a few bottles of these liquid gold gems on the racks.
Whether your penchant is for Sauternes, Port or Madeira, or perhaps something more exotic and sweet from the Jurançon in France or Setubal in Portugal, these incredible wines, forged in style over centuries, have an important cultural standing in the broader fine wine industry. The obsession with anything sweet being banished from our diets negates the stark truth that these incredibly delicious wines are the perfect start or end to an evening of vinous indulgence, when enjoyed amongst company, with suitably paired food, and in moderation.
But there are no names greater than the famed Vin de Constance. Revived by the Klein Constantia Estate in 1986, the latest 2020 vintage release also marks the 33rd released from the winery as the 2003 and 2010 vintages were not produced. The 2020 was another exceptional vintage with moderate weather patterns, low rainfall, and windy conditions contributing to a smaller, more concentrated harvest of berries. It was also the coolest since 2016 with 2,582 sunshine hours.
Estate grown and sourced from a combination of both trellised and bush vines, with the oldest block being planted back in 1983, this 37 year old plot is joined by numerous others including the youngest at four years old, taken from cuttings of the original Muscat de Frontignan that was imported to the Cape in the 1650’s. Starting on the 6th of March, the Vin de Constance 2020 harvest was completed within 3 weeks resulting in a total of 19 separate passes through the vineyards.
Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 2020, WO Constantia, 13.5% Abv.
174g/l RS | 6.3g/l TA | 3.92pH
Made from 100% Muscat de Frontignan aged one and a half years in 50% new, 500 litre Hungarian and French oak barrels, followed by the same time in large-format wooden foudre, the barrels were then tasted and sorted with the best being chosen for the final blend. The 2020 continues very much in the same vein as Matt Day’s previous vintage creations, erring slightly more towards pale gold in colour, before the expressive, lifted fragrant aromatics assault the senses with wave after wave of complex perfume and yellow fruit nuances. More Sauternes like on the nose than many previous iterations, wafts of dried apricots, peach preserve, quince paste, and grape jelly rise out the glass, while all the while, one needs to remind oneself that this wine has no botrytis or noble rot on it whatsoever. With a short time in the glass to open its shoulders, the complexity of the wine is further reinforced with hints of melted honey on warm white toast, bitter orange peel marmalade, yellow raisins, candied ginger preserve, salted caramel, and toasted brioche on the long, indulgent, hedonistic palate. This 2020 is texturally seamless in the mouth with a honied peaches and cream elegance together with soft, tangy, incredibly well integrated acids helping to keep the richness and opulence in a perfectly refined balance. Drink now on release or comfortably over the next half century.
(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Wines of Klein Constantia are imported and distributed into the UK trade by Mentzendorff Wines. The Vin de Constance is also available directly from select negociants at the Place de Bordeaux. The approximate release price for the 2020 was circa £60 per bottleinc.
Welcoming Klein Constantia’s winemaker Matt Day back to London after several years of pandemic imposed isolation in the Cape presented the perfect opportunity to unveil the new 2019 Vin de Constance – a wine which I believe represents the culmination of the past 10 years experimentation, innovation and tweaking to create something that reaches new quality heights. Coming from a very long and late harvest, the wine sees a move away from long 6 to 12 month ferments to a quicker, more precise 1 to 3 month fermentation.
The spring of 2018 was cold, wet and windier than usual, which impacted flowering and resulted in smaller berries and a reduced crop. Cooler conditions throughout the growing season meant that ripening was slower than normal, and pushed back the harvest. The late harvest and unpredictable autumn weather conditions forced Klein Constantia’s vineyard team to be reactive and disciplined with their assessment of perfect ripeness.
The 2019 harvest was short, taking place from late February until the end of March in warm and dry conditions that alleviated the risk of disease. In total, 26 separate different passes were made through the vineyards, collecting grapes turning from high acidity to more intense sugar levels with every passage, each being vinified separately. The different lots were aged for 18 months in 50% new French and Hungarian oak barrels, followed by a further 18 months in large foudres before blending and bottling.
Winemaker Matt Day presenting the new Vin de Constance 2019 in London.
Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 2019, WO Constantia Valley, 13.9% Abv.
166g/l RS | 6.1g/l TA | 3.71pH
The 2019 displays an incredibly opulent, powerful aromatic profile brimming full of grapefruit preserve, lychees, white peaches, green melon confit and melted honey on warm white toast. What purity and precision! The wine sticks perfectly to the estate’s mission statement trying to make a sweet wine that tastes not particularly sweet regardless of its actual 166 g/l RS. This is achieved through an incredible balance and harmony with a palate texture showing a sublime equilibrium between acid, alcohol and fruit intensity. Beautifully complex and layered with hints of peach iced tea, pink musk, pear purée, quince jelly and candied citrus bon bons. Very classy indeed and undoubtedly one of the best modern vintages to be made at the estate. Drink now and over the next 30+ years.
(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
To add extra perspective on the quality of the 2019, Matt Day showed a range of older Vin de Constance vintages including the 2016, the 2012, the 2004 and the rare 1991.
The Klein Constantia Clara Sauvignon Blanc Cuvee forms part of the estate’s wider pursuit to express the true and unique typicity of Sauvignon Blanc grown in Constantia’s exceptional terroirs. Named after Clara Eliza Hussey, an American heiress from Pittsburgh who purchased Klein Constantia in 1913 with her husband Braam de Villiers, and under who’s custodianship the estate was elevated to new heights of quality and fame.
Like all the Sauvignon Blancs in the range, the Clara is made with a minimalistic approach, allowing for the grapes grown on granitic soils to reveal a pure expression. Only free run juice was used and fermented in 500 litre neutral oak barrels with wild yeasts. Ever since it’s inception, this Cuvee has become one of my favourite wines in the entire range with its added richness, textural depth, freshness and intensity that made this a style of Sauvignon Blanc that was originally targeted exclusively for the American market. Certainly a wine to look out for if available in your market.
Klein Constantia Clara Sauvignon Blanc 2021, WO Constantia, 14.15% Abv.
2.18g/l RS | 7.63g/l TA | 3.19 pH
Normally a blend of predominantly blocks 372, 381, and the 361 organic block, as well as oddments of six specially identified blocks in total situated at 260 to 300 metres in altitude, all aged for 9 months in 500 litre French oak and acacia barrels, 30% new. After fermentation, the best barrels are selected from the best blocks and the wine is made in a more opulent, punchy style primarily for the US market, with more richness, texture and generally more rounder Bordeaux-style white wine characters. Once again, the aim of producing a bolder, richer style is carried out to perfection with bright intense aromatics of green apple puree, spicy green pear, white citrus, crushed granitic dust and the most delicate dried green herbal notes. The palate impact is potent and pronounced with an incredible concentration of sour yellow plum, green apple pastille, white peach and tangy green citrus that coats the mouth with a wonderfully broad glycerol texture, tangy acids and very impressive saline depth of flavour. This wine stands up to the very best expressions from Sancerre and Pouilly Fume creating a parallel universe of premium quality and Sauvignon Blanc pleasure. Drink now or over the next 10+ years.
The assessment of any great winery is surely measured by how well they make their largest and most commercially available estate wine. In the case of Klein Constantia, it has been thrilling to see winemaker Matt Day pushing the boundaries of quality and complexity on the estate’s main white release. Not content to merely make something that is commercially appealing, the team at Klein Constantia have over the past few years doubled their efforts to reclaim premium Sauvignon Blanc as Constantia’s number one global calling card.
While the experimentation and single vineyard expressions are fun to taste and write about, it is most pleasing to see that everything they learn making these micro cuvées gets translated back into plain English when applied to improve the balance, texture and complexity of their estate Sauvignon Blanc, just like the Mercedes formula 1 team uses innovations learnt on the track to improve and enhance their commercial mass market models. With intent and focus behind a wine brand like this, how can you not want to fill your cellar with their offerings!
Klein Constantia Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Constantia’s Valley, 13.5% Abv.
This 2021 made from over 40 separate parcels employing up to 25% skin contact, is a tantalising expression of pristine cool climate Sauvignon Blanc that combines the most intricate aromatic elements of white lemon blossom, grated lime peel, yellow grapefruit, freshly cut hedgerow and crunchy white peach. There is certainly a nervy saline green fruit crunch to the wine with the palate effortlessly weaving a dusty stony minerality seamlessly together with notes of spicy gooseberry, lemon grass, lime cordial, green apple and lashings of more white citrus and tangerine. This is a very distinguished expression that can be appreciated by serious Loire connoisseurs as well as weekend drinkers looking for a classy fresh glass of premium Sauvignon Blanc to compliment sushi and fresh seafood. This is Constantia Sauvignon Blanc at its versatile best.
The Klein Constantia emphasis has recently been re-engineered and re-imagined with a renewed emphasis on the exceptional Sauvignon Blanc terroirs of this ancient Constantia estate. With the Vin de Constance sweet wine project reaching new heights of quality annually together with the accompanying international critical praise, this has allowed the powers at Klein Constantia to dedicate more thought and resources to the future potential of Sauvignon Blanc as well as the red wines at Anwilka in Stellenbosch.
Chatting to head winemaker Matt Day recently, he explained that he has learnt a lot from the single vineyard block wines over the past few years as well as from the Metis joint-venture project with Pouilly Fume producer Pascal Jolivet, inspiring him and his team to refocus and refine the knowledge and knowhow acquired over the past years and channel it into the estate’s white Sauvignon Blanc wine range. In the past, the single block wines have acted as the research and development lab for the estate and now it is time to put this knowhow to greater commercial use in raising the quality profile of first and foremost, Klein Constantia’s main Sauvignon Blanc Estate wine.
Ahead of World Sauvignon Blanc Day celebrated from the 7th to the 9th of May, I tasted through Klein Constantia’s exciting new releases and was simply bowled over by the world class quality.
Klein Constantia Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2020, WO Constantia
13.8% Abv. | 3.3pH | TA 5.8 | RS 1.8
Up to 36 different blocks from vines grown on Granite and Sandstone soils are used in this impressive Sauvignon Blanc blend with around 80% of grapes fermented using wild fermentation to produce on average 120,000 bottles. No sulphur is used at crushing and fermentation temperatures start at 14 to 15 deg C before being cooled down to 12 deg C, before finally being raised at the end of fermentation back up to 15 deg C to finish off.
An attractive, complex Sauvignon Blanc that thrives on expressing a blend of the cool climate Klein Constantia sites that show a delicious melange of bitter / savoury / umami and saline characters. With the Sandstone soil sites offering richer and rounder flavours and the granitic soils tauter, more mineral, pithy white citrus characters, this vintage reveals a wonderfully rich textured and expressive palate that is loaded white citrus, yellow grapefruit, gooseberry, mango peel, apple puree, freshly cut grass and quince preserve. Fabulously constructed with delicious mid-palate balance, notable concentration and a long alluring finish. This is a fantastic vintage for Sauvignon Blanc, Klein Constantia and lovers of intricate Sauvignon Blanc.
(Wine Safari Score: 92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Klein Constantia Metis Sauvignon Blanc 2018, WO Constantia
14% Abv | 3.26 pH |6.5 TA | 2.2 RS
Metis is a wine that grew out of a historic collaboration with Loire producer Pascal Jolivet and pushes Constantia Sauvignon to the limits in an attempt to emulate a more Sancerre style of winemaking with oxidative must handling, 100% wild ferment used and 20% neutral oak fermentation and then ageing, with the resulting wine left for 9 months in barrel before being racked to stainless steel tanks, back blended and aged in tank for a further three months.
2018 was a hot early drought vintage and despite Constantia suffering less vintage variation than hotter inland areas due to the tempering effect of the ocean, the Metis is still boasts a bold 14% alcohol yet remains incredibly cool, classical and mineral with a pronounced stony, grey slate character. The style of winemaking tries to accentuate the philosophical Old World roots of Metis and boasts vineyards with altitude and that are rich in granitic soils. The character of the wine reveals layers of limestone, savoury lime peel, citrus, salinity and yellow grapefruit notes and finishes with a long tangy, peppery, concentrated flinty intensity. Fabulous balance, mouth watering acidity and an overall feeling of liquid minerality. An impressively different expression.
(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Klein Constantia Perdeblokke Sauvignon Blanc 2020, WO Constantia
13.8% Abv | 3.08 pH | 7.0 TA | 2.2 RS
The first single vineyard wine produced since 2005. Pungent, bold, expressive and made in a punchy style that’s made to assault the senses with its intensity. Fermation was begun in stainless steel and 100% barrel finished for the final 2/3rds of fermention. There is nothing shy about this wine and in 2020, it is loaded with even more intensity and Sauvignon Blanc fire power. The aromatics burst with black currant leaf, orange citrus, umani savoury notes, rich tangerine peel, flinty spice, fresh naartjies and quince with subtle cut grass and root fennel savoury nuances that will almost certainly acquire rudimentary notes of cat’s pee on a gooseberry bush with further bottle development. Full bodied and precise while never erring on the side of heavy, this wine will drink wonderfully in its youth due to its mouth-watering acidity and intense fruit concentration.
(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Klein Constantia Clara Sauvignon Blanc 2020, WO Constantia
13.38% Abv | 3.16 pH | 6.8 TA | 2.4 RS
Normally a blend of predominantly blocks 372, 381, and the 361 organic block as well as oddments of other blocks all aged in 500 litre French oak and acacia barrels, 30% new. After fermentation, the best barrels are selected from the best blocks and the wine is made in a more opulent, punchy style primarily for the US market, with more richness, texture and generally more rounder Bordeaux style white characters. 30% of the fermentation completed in tank before being transferred to barrel with the fine lees to complete fermentation.
Klein Constantia are said to be aiming for a bolder, richer Bordeaux Blanc style with the Clara, displaying pear, pineapple, yellow grapefruit pastille and a riper and rounder texture. The end result is just splendid. There is indeed more richness and lees contact complexity, notes of kiwi fruits, acacia wood and an overall rounding influence of oak without the wine showing any overt oaky characters per se. Rich, intense, plush and textured, this is seriously grown-up Sauvignon Blanc with sensational concentration, intensity and length. I am certainly sold! What a beauty.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Klein Constantia Block 382 Sauvignon Blanc 2019, WO Constantia
13.87% Abv | 3.19 pH | 6.8 TA | 2 RS
One of the gems in the Klein Constantia portfolio, these three segmented parcels of the Block 382 are located on almost directly South facing slopes at 320 metres above sea level on grainy granitic soils. Block 382.1 is trellised and Block 382.2 and 382.3 are 100% bush vines. In some vintages, they only use the trellised vines and in others, like 2019, only the bush vines which were fermented and aged for 20 months in 500 litre barrels before bottling.
Matt Day says if he could make just one Sauvignon Blanc every year from the estate, he would want it all to taste like the 2019 Block 382. The wine presents an intricate nose of gun smoke, wet stones, struck flint and savoury, briney maritime notes. The palate is packed full of gooseberry, prickly acids, grassy green pear, green apple bolstered by a fleshy, glycerol mid-palate, tart lime, gooseberry and a rock salt, briney finish. Super complex, very stable from extended ageing, Matt describes this iconic wine as “bullet proof” and one for the long haul. In my experience, it is certainly one of the most profound expressions of Sauvignon Blanc I have tasted from South Africa in many, many years. Track it down if you can!
The famous Vin de Constance is certainly a deeply contemplative wine. While I was tasting the fabulous new Vin de Constance 2017 release, deep in thought, I realised that my friendship with current winemaker Matt Day makes up the tail end of over 30+ years of my own relationship with this great estate and its winemakers after getting to know both Ross Gower and Adam Mason very well over the years. The journey of vinous evolution has been an exciting one for Vin de Constance which now proudly ranks, once again, among the most admired fine wine brands in the world.
With more than 320 years of history, Vin de Constance is without a doubt THE greatest sweet wine of the South hemisphere, being a unique style based on freshness, complexity, balance and deliciously hedonistic aromas. The vines of Muscat de Frontignan, the only variety used for Vin de Constance, stretch more than 16,5 hectares together with the estate’s other varieties on the slopes of the Constantiaberg mountain. The terroir of the Constantiaberg is 600 millions years old and has a high clay content which ensures good irrigation and favourable water retention, keeping the vines happy during the dry and hot summers. Located between 70m and 100m above sea level, the South-East oriented Muscat plantings on the estate’s lower slopes benefit from the constant cooling sea breezes of the Cape Doctor, a wind formed by the Benguela current coming up to the Cape from the Antarctic.
In the vineyard, a first harvest is made to create a basic base wine with a 12.5% to 13% alcohol content and a good acidity. In all, there are up to 20 separate pickings which are all vinified separately, 50% from bush vines planted in 2011 and 50% from older trellised vines planted in 1983. The consequential elaboration of Vin de Constance means that it does not require any “noble rot” or botrytis but merely the raisining of the grapes in a natural sweet wine style. After an extended fermentation period, the wine is normally aged for 3 years in a combination of 50% new French oak and acacia barrels, as well as some large format foudres before further blending and bottling.
Vin de Constance was previously enjoyed by…
• Napoléon 1st who had some bottles delivered weekly at Saint-Hélène during his exile. On his death bed, he wanted to drink only Vin de Constance and nothing else.
• Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.
• King George IV, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II
• Prussian Emperor Frédéric Le Grand.
• George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
• The Indonesian Prince Dipanagara who was a Muslim but still drank Vin de Constance.
• Baudelaire (« I prefer Constance to opium »), Lord Byron, Jane Austen (a remedy to a heartbreak ) and Charles Dickens.
• John Adams, Casanova, Alexandre Dumas
• Nelson Mandela and more latterly, Xi Jinping
The build up to the 2017 harvest of Muscat de Frontignan was text book according to Matt Day. The autumn months were hot and dry – resulting in early leaf fall and moderate reserves in the vines. Winter came late with mild conditions. The rainfall, although better than 2015, was below average. Spring’s warm weather initiated budburst, however a cold September resulted in the budburst being slightly uneven. The summer months were near perfect for flowering and berry set. The exemplary growing season was characterised by cold nights, moderately warm days, cooling winds and just the right amount of rainfall perfecting the process of berry development and the ever so important maturation process. Despite the drought, they were able to isolate their individual pickings into 20 different batches of Muscat de Frontignan. The first picking showed fine acidity from the Bush vines – at just over 18 balling or 7.5-8% Abv., a 3.3pH and a total acid of 9 TA. These pickings spanned over two months, allowing numerous possibilities when making up the final blend of Vin de Constance 2017. The most time consuming of these batches was of course the essencia, the heart and soul of the Vin de Constance, which is made from raisins harvested individually by a specialised team.
The first experimental recreation by Ross Gower in 1986 was made up of around 1,000 bottles from grapes from two to three blocks with the 1987 vintage forming the first official commercial release. The 1988 vintage made 13,000 litres and was at first rejected for certification before later being passed. To this day, Vin de Constance still has no accurate official certification category, meaning that the wine is still certified as a Noble Late Harvest, despite having no botrytis, and is then declassified to a natural sweet wine with a volatile acidity level around 1.2. Recent production has now reached between 30 and 40,000 bottles annually.
Vin de Constance 2017 Natural Sweet Wine, WO Constantia, 13.97% Abv.
165 g/l RS, 3.7pH, 6.6 TA.
When comparing the technical stats of the 2017 with those of the 2016 Vin de Constance, they appear almost identical with a very similar alcohol level, residual sugar and total acidity. The aromatics are wonderfully cool, crystalline and fragrant with delicious notes of white peach, honey on white toast, spicy orange peel, apricot, passion fruit hints and pineapple pastille. Where this wine really departs from the 2016 is with its incredibly harmonious, utterly seamless, creamy mouthfeel that boasts a soft, suave glycerol mouth coating concentration, plush fleshy layers of dried apricots, honey and grapefruit marmalade. On the finish, the wine tightens up once again revealing such a fabulous balance where its multiple textural layers become almost inseparable before ending with a long, persistent phenolic length that lends an illusion of dryness. A truly outstanding benchmark Vin de Constance yet again. Drink now or over the next 25+ years.
(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Vin de Constance 2016 Natural Sweet Wine, WO Constantia, 14.04% Abv.
164 g/l RS, 3.73pH, 6.5 TA.
Winemaker Matt Day is always effusive about how much he loves the 2016 Vin de Constance expression for its unique and characterful style that is just slightly more exotic and out of the ordinary. The aromatics are intricate and overt showing deliciously complex notes of ripe yellow grapefruit and dried apricots, pithy marmalade and spicy nectarine peel together with fabulously edgy notes of stem ginger and herbal cinnamon spice. This fabulous 2016 earned a lot of followers and was highly lauded across the world with drinkers seduced by the wine’s lush dense palate, its impressive concentration and glycerol breadth and a textural depth kept beautifully vibrant and bright by the wines superb sweet and sour tangy acidity. The finish is long and precise with tantalising hints of zesty tinned pineapple slices in syrup, fresh honey and more ginger and apricot nuances. A very special wine that shows plenty of individuality. Drink now and over the next 20 to 30+ years.
Formed in 1982, the Guild is an association of some of South Africa’s finest winemakers and has evolved into a body of 45 members who jointly represent the pinnacle of South African wine achievement.
While the point of the guild’s existence is sometimes questioned by voices in the South African industry, it seems clear to me that the experimentation and creativity the CWG promotes is a valuable and unique part of the wine industry in South Africa and should be cherished. In the guild’s own words… “Innovation, benchmarking and the sharing of knowledge spanning over thirty seven years of winemaking excellence, is the proud accomplishment of the Cape Winemakers Guild.”
Another key point of the CWG is that individual winemakers are invited to join, not wineries, and the membership remains with the individual even if they move to another winery. I recently caught up with long time Groot Constantia winemaker Boela Gerber to taste his exciting new 2017 red CWG release along side Duncan Savage, another popular guild member.
Boela Gerber Groot Constantia CWG Red Bordeaux Blend 2017, 14 Abv.
A classical blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon and 46% Cabernet Franc.
What lovely opulence and hedonistic power right from the start offering incredibly lavish blueberry and black berry intensity, finely lifted violet, sweet tobacco leaf and iris perfume with plenty of vanilla pod spice. On the palate there is a beautifully vivid plushness showing cola and cherry spice notes, brûléed sweet cedar oak and a fabulously focused intensity and freshness. Very expressive and luxurious, this is impressive winemaking in action for people looking for a show stopper. This really is what special edition CWG wines are all about.
For the past 8 years, Matt Day has come to London to launch the new vintages of Vin de Constance, one of the greatest sweet wines in existence. Usually there is a formula of showing a few older rare vintages before revealing the newest release. But after Matt pulled barrel samples 6 months ago from multiple component parts of the 2015 blend… and recently discovered the bottles in the lab, he thought it would be the perfect way to introduce one of the finest expressions of Vin de Constance to date… by showing a deconstructed version with multiple component parts.
This is a wine that needs no introduction, and as Matt pointed out, we all know about the famous historical dignitaries that have consumed this delicious sweet wine over the years. But more important to him and the estate owners now is making great wines that represent their terroir to the fullest and represent the vision of where Vin de Constance is going in the future.
As if there was any need for further compliments, it was the great Steven Spurrier who proclaimed at the tasting that “the 2015 Vin de Constance was every bit as impressive as the 2016 Chateau d’Yquem”… where Matt actually worked a harvest two years ago.
For me, this wine shows a focus, a precision and a clarity of purpose not seen on any recent vintages of Vin de Constance. If you want Chateau d’Yquem buyers to buy your wine, this is what they are going to have to taste like! Bravo Matt!
Component Tasting:
Component I6 – Precision
Wonderfully perfumed and fresh, orange blossom, marmalade on white toast, crushed grapefruit and barley sugar. Very fragrant, pure and precise. Quite full and unctuous on the palate, massive mouth coating depth, creamy and powerful with impressive purity of fruit.
Component I7 – Flesh
Quite neutral, mineral and restrained aromatics, showing more a leafy, sappy, resinous side of Muscat with subtle orange and tangerine peel spice. Texturally full, fleshy and harmonious with a wonderfully plush lemon cream biscuit core of yellow orchard fruits. Soft acids, dreamy harmonious balance.
Component I8 – Harmony
Containing a small part of 2016 Vin de Constance, this wine shows aromatics of an almost more complete wine with fine balance between fruit and sappy resinous notes, minerality and wood spice. Palate is slightly fresher and more ‘teenager gawky’ than the others with plenty of power and depth but unlike the nose, the palate feels much more incomplete and more like a blend component.
MDF Green 2018 Component – Frame
Harvested green end of January 2018. Lean spicy and green with stalky sappy notes, peppered green figs, white pepper, grapefruit confit and waxy green apples. Wine is bone dry, less than 2 g/l RS. Sleek, fresh, very juicy. Could certainly be bottled as a hipster still wine but going to be a perfect component of a blend. Delicious backbone and freshness.
Component Essencia 2015 – Richness
A whopping of 655 g/l RS in the component with next to no alcohol. Fantastically rich and opulent, hedonistic notes of orange marmalade, grapefruit preserve and caramelised hairy yellow peaches. Palate texture is dense with a treacly weight, tasting it akin to sucking on a big teaspoon of honey. An important component piece in the Vin de Constance blend.
Vin de Constance 2012, WO Constantia, 14.3 Abv.
Matt Day’s first vintage in charge of winemaking after taking over from the phenomenal talent of Adam Mason. So no pressure! The RS is 160 g/l, pH 3.6, TA 7 g/l with the wine aged for 2.5 years in a combination of 60% new French oak, Hungarian oak and French acacia before racking out, blending and ageing for a further 6 months in tank before bottling. Aromatics show crystalline white peaches, yellow citrus, orange blossom and subtle tangerine peel spice. Palate is so sleek and taut with an appealing salinity and spicy marmalade, fleshy texture and an intensity that lingers long in the mouth. An exceptional maiden vintage for Matt.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Vin de Constance 2015, WO Constantia, 14 Abv.
Very pure crystalline and fragrant nose with a really complex aromatic profile seamlessly knitted together. Beautiful peppered white peaches, honey suckle, yellow grapefruit, pear purée, barley sugar and a most enchanting under vein of chalky minerality. The palate is crystalline and pure, taut and polished with absolute harmony and balance. The incredible blending precision delivers an amazing texture, impressive tension, mid palate restraint and a finished wine that is perfectly proportion and finely chiselled and near faultless. A very grown up Vin de Constance that flirts with lightness, freshness and elegance.
The 2014 Vin de Constance release sees Klein Constantia winemaker Matt Day deliver a superbly confident display of vinous sweet wine alchemy, conjuring up an impressively fine and balanced rendition of this iconic sweet Muscat dessert wine. Fill your cellars with this vinous gold!
Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 2014, WO Constantia, 14.2 Abv.
172 g/L RS, matured in 500 litre barrels for around 36 months, the 2014 displays a wonderfully aromatic nose of white blossom, honeysuckle, quince confit and freshly baked brioche smothered in honey and yellow grapefruit marmalade. The 2014 is wonderfully approachable showing a finely poised balance of creamy yellow orchard fruits and superbly elegant integrated acids. The finish is focused and pure, concentrated and beautifully textural, finishing with a delicious melange of orange peel, ginger pastille sweets and caramelised apples dusted with vanilla pod spice. This is a really distinguished expression that shows the winemaker’s growing confidence to be able to deliver an iconic expression of Vin de Constance year after year. Drink from 2019 to 2045+
