Cape Valley

This Sauvignon Blanc is elegant and refined, with subtle flavours of blackberry leaf and passion fruit complementing a mineral core. Old World in style, it has rested on its fine lees for seven months, which has given the palate additional weight and texture. The wine is expressive with a tension that adds complexity. The property is one of the oldest surviving Sandveld farms, where leopards abound, and which is ideal for growing aromatic whites due to the higher altitude. Although not certified organic, the farm adopts an organic approach to be able to produce high-quality wines that express terroir.
Daisy Gatt – Buying Assistant

The 2013 Grenache Syrah Mourvèdre, a blend of 63%, 31% and 6% respectively, has a clean, quite pure boysenberry and cassis-scented nose with a sprig of lavender just in the background. The palate is medium-bodied with chewy tannins, quite spicy with notes of cola developing towards the finish that seems a little feral compared to the well-behaved aromatics.
Neal Martin - Wine Advocate - November 2015

This has typically succinct aromas of nettle, yellow flowers and fennel. It is one of the most distinctive South African Sauvignons. The palate is very well balanced with citrus, lemon and gooseberry on the attack. There is fine weight in the mid-palate and superb harmony on the finish. Drink now to 2019.
Katherine Dart MW – Wine Buyer

2014 is being described by Matthew Day as the vintage of the decade and it is easy to see why. Vivid gold in colour, the nose is open and expressive even at this early stage. Candid orange peel, backed peaches and apricots with a hint of honey dominate the nose, but there is nuance and spice here in the guise of fresh ginger, nutmeg and kerosene. The palate is rich, opulent and fruit forward, coating one’s mouth with sweet marmalade and apricot frangipane, but there is freshness on the midpalate with hints of tangerine and honeysuckle. Well balanced with plenty of concentration on the long, sticky finish. Exceedingly pleasurable and drinkable from the get go.
Simon Herriot, Private Account Manager

My first impression of Matthew Day’s maiden Vin de Constance is very simply “wow, what a wine!” He seems to have created even more depth, even more layers of complexity and its more vinous, more winey…there’s just more! The nose has taut, yellow apple fruit in spades with a little peach and soft plum characters too.

There is an exciting touch of German Riesling Auslese too – all those petrol, acacia, honey notes and citric lift. The palate is hugely complex as you might imagine, the Auslese character is present too. Although the acidity is greater than in previous years, it is entirely dovetailed into the structure of the wine. The length is simply huge, lasting for minutes but leaves me just wanting another glass. Drink now to 2030+.
Gary Owen, Private Account Manager

Matt has been working at Klein Constantia since 2009 as assistant to the highly respected Adam Mason, but has brought his own ideas and philosophy to the wine. Matt has used the vintage conditions of 2012 and his own methodology to preserve the aromatics and improve the freshness of the wine – highly important in a wine as sweet as Vin de Constance.

Importantly Matt has been harvesting in batches, almost like Sauternes trie harvesting, only picking the grapes when they are at their peak ripeness. In 2012 that meant a colossal three month harvest! At the end of harvest he also used a proportion of Essencia juice, the free run juice from the sweetest berries – this culminates in a more intense, more balanced and more drinkable Vin de Constance!

Since being re-introduced in 1986, Vin de Constance has consistently appeared in lists of the world’s top wines. The 2007 vintage was awarded 97 points by Neal Martin of Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, making it the best rated South African sweet wine in history. The outstanding 2009 was in the Wine Spectator’s Top 10 Wines of 2015.

The 2008 Vin de Constance is a worthy successor to the extraordinarily rich 2007. The wine is a result of meticulous care in the vineyard, with pickers passing through more than a dozen times to collect fruit at differing levels of ripeness and raisinification to build the layers of this complex wine. The deep gold colour hints at the richness within, the lifted, intense nose of ripe apricots and tropical fruits beguiles, whilst the weighty palate carries through the ripe fruit notes of the nose, mingled with sweet clove spice and an unexpected savoury twist on the lingering finish that makes one want to take another sip. Powerful, yet not cloying, rich but elegant, this is one of the world’s truly great sweet wines.
Martin Hudson MW - Wine Buyer

The nose is perfumed and elegant, with notes of lime zest, subtle gooseberry and melon. On the palate the acidity is energetic and lively, gently tempered by the presence of a touch of Sémillon in the 2017 vintage (around two percent). Fennel and nettle notes complete the picture.
Katherine Dart MW, Wine Buyer

It certainly lives up to the billing: exhilaratingly, almost sherbet-scented with fresh nectarine-stone, orange & pink grapefruit notes; the palate's very clean, crisp & vibrant with shreds of tangy seville orange peel marmalade resonating on the finish; this Muscat de Frontignan/Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains wine is balanced by 140 grams of residual sugar. Still a legend in its own right & worth the detour.
 

The nose is enticing with orange, marmalade and apricot aromas, freshly harvested honey. If this isn’t enough of an assault on the olfactory senses, then the palate is in for just as big a treat. The mouth feel has a lovely viscosity that layers the mid palate with tropical fruit, dried pineapple, spiced honey and yet the finely balanced acidity lifts this to a finely honed length and finish. Always a great sweet wine for the hedonists this is another great offering that is very drinkable in its youth or over the next 10 + years.
Stuart Rae, Private Account Manager

The Klein Constantia Vin De Constance is a legendary natural sweet wine, widely regarded as one of the world’s finest. During the 18th and 19th centuries Vin de Constance was the most famous wine from the Southern Hemisphere. This seductive and iconic sweet offering, made only 20km from Cape Town, seduced the Kings and Queens of Europe, featured in the novels of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen and continues to impress its loyal followers. In 1980 Klein Constantia was bought by Duggie Jooste who redeveloped the Estate.

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. In 1986 the first vintage of the renaissance was reintroduced to the public and packaged in a similar style 500ml bottle to its forebears. Made from Muscat de Frontignan, the 2009 was aged in a combination of French oak, French Acacia oak and Hungarian oak barrels for 4 years, of which 60% were new barrels. The harvest began in late January and was completed only in late April.

The extended picking period allowed the estate to harvest up to 25 different batches that make up the many components in the final blend. Each bunch is hand selected and only the ripest and best bunches are chosen. There is no racking or movement of the wine during the 4 years of ageing until the final blend is decided.

Widely regarded as one of the world’s finest sweet wines, this famously seductive and iconic Vin de Constance is a gloriously sweet offering from the Klein Constantia winery in South Africa located 20km from Cape Town.
The 2007 vintage was one of the best of the decade, with a long, cool season ensuring concentrated flavours and aromatic intensity. A warm, dry late summer created perfect conditions for the raisining of the Muscat de Frontignan grapes whilst still on the vine.

The ‘Five’ is a reference to the blend of grape varietals that make up this wine, namely Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Merlot. 2010 was as near to perfect as it’s possible to be for cultivating grapes in this part of the world, with the harvest taking place even later than in the peerless 2009 vintage. The subsequent wine has a nose rich in blackcurrant fruit, black cherry, spice box and tobacco.

The palate is both rich and concentrated; with the dark fruit notes complimented by silky tannins and balanced acidity which lends freshness. The finish is lengthy and smooth with a mineral edge. This could benefit from a year or two in the cellar; however it’s already showing beautifully.

The 2011 Five blends together the five Bordeaux varieties (Petit Verdot, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon) with great aplomb, creating a wine of sufficient richness and power to bring enormous pleasure to the senses, but, at the same time, an uncommon level of refinement and elegance at this price bracket. This is perfectly ready to drink now but will be impressive through to 2018.