VIN DE CONSTANCE
2016 Klein Constantia
| Grapes | Muscat |
| Origin | South Africa, Western Cape |
| ABV | 14% |
The 2016 Vin de Constance contains 165g/L of residual sugar. This has a wonderful bouquet with layers of wild honey and acacia, little-changed since I last encountered it a couple of years back. The palate is concentrated, multi-faceted yet primal at the moment. I suspect this vintage is maturing at a glacial pace, but I cannot wait to taste this at 12-15 years of age. Outstanding. Drinking range: 2028 - 2055 Rating: 97 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jul 2022)
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The 2016 Vin de Constance contains 165g/L residual sugar and has a pH of 3.73. It is slightly paler in color compared to other recent vintages. The well-defined bouquet offers scents of wild honey, acacia and orange blossom, all quite airy and focused – not what you would call a heavyweight nose. On the palate, laser-like acidity cuts through the viscous fruit, and notes of saffron and allspice furnish the honeyed texture. There is immense precision on the finish. Superb. Drinking range: 2020 - 2055 Rating: 97 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Sept 2020)
Sweet and fragrant on the nose. Layers of honey, acacia, sultana and earthy spices. The palate is sweet but not remotely cloying, with bright acidity and great intensity of fruit and marmalade. Harmonious and intense, with superb purity and vibrancy. Mellow raisined notes are lifted by floral orange blossom, cinnamon and sweet vanilla spice. Unerring and long on the finish, superb! Drinking range: 2019 - 2036 Rating: 18.5 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Sept 2019)
Increasingly celebrated as one of the great sweet wines of the world, not just the Cape, Vin de Constance is a delight to taste and review. Slightly drier than the 2015 release at 165 grams of sugar, it has more in common with the Loire or Tokaji than it does with Sauternes in terms of freshness and structure. Fresh, balanced and floral, with incredible delicacy, racy acidity, fine oak and flavours of pear tart, crystallised lemons and orange zest. Drinking range: 2019 - 2035 Rating: 98 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (Sept 2019)
Klein Constantia
Vin de Constance comes from the Klein Constantia estate founded in 1695, just 20 miles from Cape Town at the foot of Table Mountain. Most unusually for a ‘New World’ wine, it was big news in Europe throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Napoleon is said to have shipped over bulk quantities of Vin de Constance to St Helena, to allow for about a bottle a day to see him through his exile there, but he was not alone, Louis XVI, Frederick the Great and the discerning gastronomes that made up the Russian Royal family were all more than partial too. Our own dear Jane Austen recommends it in Sense and Sensibility to sooth a broken heart and the more effusive Frenchman, Monsieur Baudelaire, suggests that only the ‘lips of a lover were more heavenly sweet...’ Following its early success the estate’s fortunes changed in the mid nineteenth century – the dreaded Phylloxera devastated the vineyards and the estate went in to rapid decline. Not until 1979 did life get breathed back in to Klein Constantia when a local family picked up the pieces, planted new vines and started the revival of this once illustrious wine estate – the revival has continued as new owners took the reins in 2010, with deep pockets and huge ambition. You can read David Porter's latest blog piece on the recent 2008 Vin de Constance Tasting with Matt Day the Winemaker Here
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