Vin de Constance - Afrique du Sud 2017
With more than 320 years of history, The Vin de Constance is without a doubt THE greatest sweet wine of the South hemisphere. A unique style, based on freshness and delicious aromas. A MUST HAVE in one's cellar.The vineyard :
The vines of Muscat de Frontignan, the only variety used for Vin de Constance, stretch more than 16,5ha in slopes on the Constantiaberg mountain. The granite terroir of the Constantiaberg is 600 millions years old and has a high clay content which ensures a good irrigation and water retention favorable hence to the keeping of vines during dry and hot summers.
Located between 35m and 400m above sea level, the domain benefits of a constant sea breeze. The vines are South-East oriented. The climate is Mediterranean due to the influence of the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans. Summers (November-May) are dry and hot with strong sunlight but refreshed by the Cape Doctor, a wind formed by the Benguela, a current coming from the Antarctic.
The freshness of Cape Doctor stresses and shapes the vine, which coupled to the strong sunlight, permits to develop all the complexity of Vin de Constance by filling the fruit in concentration and flavor.
The harvest :
First of all, a first harvest is realized to create a basic wine with a 12,5-13% alcohol content and a good acidity.
In a second time, comes the harvest of the raisined grapes. Indeed, a contrario of sweet Bordeaux wines elaborated thanks to botrytis, the elaboration of Vin de Constance does not require this “noble rot” but the raisining of the grapes. This technic consists in leaving the grapes on the vine, let them dry in the sun and wind to get them aged, wilted and concentrated in sugar.
This two times system of harvesting permits to ensure constancy in the Vin de Constance where sugar and acidity are in perfect harmony
After an extended fermentation period, the wine was aged for 3 years in a combination of 50% new oak and acacia barrels, as well as large format foudres before further blending and bottling.
Vin de Constance elixir is placed in its iconic bottle with its unique and particular form redesigned by an Italian designer to look alike the original bottle while adding it a touch of modernity. Since then, the design has been registered and globally protected, which emphasizes the uniqueness of Vin de Constance.
They loved Vin de Constance :
- Napoléon 1st who had some bottles delivered weekly at Saint-Hélène during his exile. On his death bed, he wanted to drink only Vin de Constance and nothing else.
- Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.
- King of England George IV, the queen Elizabeth II
- Queen of England Victoria.
- Prussia Emperor Frédéric Le Grand.
- Georges Washington, Thomas Jefferson.
- The Indonesian Prince Dipanagara who was a Muslim but drank Vin de Constance.
- Baudelaire (« I prefer Constance to opium »), Byron, Jane Austen (a remedy to a heartbreak ), Charles Dickens.
- John Adams
- Casanova
- Alexandre Dumas
- Nelson Mandela
- Xi Jinping