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Constantia

In 1685, the Dutch governor Simon van der Stel (1639-1712) acquired an approximately 750-hectare plot of land southeast of Cape Town in what is now South Africa, which he named "Constantia" (perseverance) after the virtue he valued (not after his wife - as one often reads - because her name was Johanna). He was not the first, however, as a vineyard had already been founded there three years earlier, which still exists today under the name Steenberg. Stel developed the property into a princely estate and was involved in fruit-growing and especially viticulture. He attached great importance to hygiene. He experimented with different grape varieties such as Palomino (which he called Fransdruif), Sémillon (which he called Wyndruif), Chenin Blanc (called Steen in South Africa) and Pontac (Teinturier du Cher). The white variety Muscat de Frontignan (in South Africa for Muscat Blanc) was used to produce a sweet wine, some of it fortified, which gained legendary fame worldwide and was supplied to all the ruling houses in Europe. At the time, there were white, amber and red varieties.

Constantia - Weinberge

A tasting by the British wine writer Hugh Johnson proves how long-lived this wine is. In 1970, he was able to enjoy a glass of the 1830 vintage (140 years old at the time of tasting) from a bottle whose cork was sealed with wax. He described this cider as amber-coloured, sweet, full-bodied and extraordinarily harmonious. Stel retired in 1699, and after his death in 1712, the large estate was divided into the three parts or vineyards that still exist today: Groot Constantia, Klein Constantia and Bergvliet (today Buitenverwachting). The new owner of Klein Constantia Johann Colijn reunited the two parts Klein and Groot in 1733. However, the quality and reputation of the wine had suffered greatly during this period. In 1778, the rich landowner Hendrik Cloete, incidentally a descendant of a gardener of the first governor Jan van Riebeeck (1619-1677), bought the Groot Constantia estate. He succeeded in bringing the estate and also the wine back to its former glory and even greater fame.

He was an absolute perfectionist, for example he had 100 slaves chase away every insect in the vineyards from the grapes. The first pressing process was then done by slaves stamping the grapes with their bare feet to the sound of music. His son Hendrik took over the estate in 1794, continued the tradition of excellent wine and even expanded it. The European ruling courts preferred Constantia to other sweet wines such as even Château d'Yquem, Tokay or Madeira. It was one of the favourite wines of Napoleon (1769-1821), who had it delivered in large quantities to his exile on St Helena until his death. The French bourgeois king Louis-Philippe (1773-1850) even bought the entire 1833 vintage. Unfortunately, the decline began in the 1860s. First mildew and then phylloxera came to South Africa, and the tariff barriers for French wine lifted by the new ruler England in 1861 did the rest. Towards the end of the 19th century, wine production ceased, Groot Constantia was sold to the state in 1885 for only 10,000 Rand and all the vines there were replaced by resistant varieties. Groot and Klein Constantia then ceased wine production in the early 20th century.

Both wineries were only revived from the 1970s onwards. Today, the Constantia wine-growing area comprises only about 400 hectares of vineyards between Hout Bay in the west and False Bay in the east - south of Cape Town at the foot of the 600-metre-high Constantia Mountain. It is a ward (not belonging to a district) and belongs to the Coastal Region. The vineyards lie on deep, red soil with granite spurs and weathered sandstone. The climate is relatively cool due to the nearby sea and the humidity is very high. The annual rainfall is abundant at 800 to 1,000 millimetres, so that no artificial irrigation is required as in many other South African wine-growing areas. The red wine varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinotage and Shiraz (Syrah) are cultivated, as well as the white wine varieties Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc (Steen), Pinot Gris, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. Today, the vineyards on Constantia are shared by the five wineries Buitenverwachting, Constantia Uitsig, Groot Constantia, Klein Constant ia and Steenberg.

Image: by SparklingGirl on Pixabay

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