Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 2014 500mL

In the 18th and 19th centuries “the sweet luscious and excellent wine of Constantia” was recognized as one of the great wines of the world, savored by royalty and given pride of place in the cellars of the world’s greatest wine collectors. The most famous fan of Constantia was said to be Napoleon, who had regular shipments sent to him during his period of exile on St Helena. Although production ceased during the mid-to-late 1800s, in the 1980s, during the redevelopment of Klein Constantia Estate (a sub-division of the original Constantia estate granted to Cape commander Simon van der Stel in 1685), everyone involved was inspired to resurrect the legendary wine. Early records were studied and careful selection was made from vines which, in all likelihood, came from the original stock used in Constantia 300 years ago. Over a century since its disappearance came the renaissance – Vin de Constance – a wine made in the style of the old Constantia, from vineyards celebrated since the late 1600s. Vin de Constance is a late-harvest style made from Muscat de Frontignan (aka Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains) grapes, without botrytis. 10% of the Muscat is picked early, to make a base wine at 12.5–13 % alcohol with good acidity. The remaining grapes are left to accumulate sugar, and leaf removal exposes the fruit to the sun, which helps raisin the remaining grapes. Then, picking takes place in three passages through the vineyard. Altogether, around 10% of the crop will be raisins. If the raisins have lots of sugar left in the skins, then the base wine is used to flush the flavour out. The skins are pressed quite hard as tannins are an important part of the style. It’s not possible to settle this dirty juice, so it goes to barrels for fermentation. These barrels are 500 litres and the wine stays in these on gross lees for up to four years.

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