Groot Constantia: 1685, the oldest estate in the Cape

A few kilometres from Cape Town, in the Constantia valley, on the slopes of Table Mountain. The climate is Mediterranean, cooled by Atlantic winds, and the soils are remarkably varied for such a small area, which allows very different grape varieties to be grown. The rest of our bottles from the country are gathered in the South Africa section.

Since 1685, when Governor Simon van der Stel planted the first vines there. It is the oldest wine estate in South Africa and the oldest still operating in the southern hemisphere. The property celebrated its 336th anniversary in 2021.

The sweet wine made in this valley in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the most sought-after wine Europe imported at the time. It was served at European courts and regularly cited in the literature of the period. Napoleon, exiled on Saint Helena from 1815 until his death in 1821, had it shipped to him: that is the anecdote the estate likes to recall most.

No, and that is what sets it apart. Its sugar comes solely from the grapes: the Muscat is left to shrivel on the vine during a long ripening period, then harvested late. Fermentation lasts a week, ageing twenty-four months in barrique, and no grape spirit is added. It sells for €62 and is one of our sweet wines.

The South African take on ruby port. Here, Touriga Nacional, a Douro grape variety, macerates on its skins, then fermentation is stopped by adding grape spirit when 95 grams of sugar per litre remain. Twenty-two months in used French barriques follow. The result is a sweet red with fig, cocoa and dried fruit, at €38.

It is the South African name for the traditional method, in which the second fermentation takes place in the bottle. At Groot Constantia, hand-harvesting takes place in late January, the first fermentation lasts six months in stainless-steel tanks on the lees, and the second eighteen months in bottle. Each bottle is riddled by hand, disgorged and then re-corked. The house brut rosé is built on Pinotage, which is unusual for a sparkling wine.

The estate's two flagship cuvées, one red and one white, both at €40.50. The red blends four Bordeaux grape varieties and spends fifteen months in French oak, 75% of it new. The white combines Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc, is fermented in barrel, matures for ten months on the lees, then rests for a year in bottle before release.

With Lady of Abundance at €19.90 for a supple red blend, or with the Gouverneurs Reserve White at €39.90 for the house's reserve white. If the aim is to understand why this estate matters, you have to go straight to the Grand Constance: it is the one that carries the history of the place.

The estate describes an approach that comes close: biological pest control, soil health and weed control managed without synthetic products, manual work in the vineyard. No certification is claimed for these bottles, so we do not list them as organic. Our certified wines are gathered in the organic section.

Yes. Groot Constantia is now run by a non-profit foundation and the site is open to the public: you can visit the historic buildings, the vineyard and the cellar. It is one of the few wine addresses in the Cape where you can see four centuries of uninterrupted production on site.

Chilled but not ice-cold, around ten degrees, in a small glass. It stands up to foie gras, a dessert made with yellow fruit or a blue cheese, and is very good on its own at the end of a meal. An opened bottle keeps for several days in the fridge; the sugar and acidity protect it.