Vineyards and winemaking
Vin de Constance is made from Muscat de Frontignan grown on the slopes of the Constantiaberg, where decomposed granite soils and cooling breezes from False Bay shape fruit of unusual fragrance and acidity. For the 2008 vintage, ripe berries were selected through repeated hand harvests as they naturally concentrated and raisined on the vine.
The intensely sweet juice fermented slowly before the wine matured for four and a half years in 500-litre French and Hungarian oak barrels, around 60% new. This long élevage integrated the wine's richness and spice while preserving the luminous acidity that has always distinguished Constantia's celebrated natural sweet wine.
Tasting notes
Appearance
Glowing amber-gold with copper reflections and a rich, satin-like viscosity.
Nose
Ripe apricot, orange marmalade and fresh Muscat grapes rise from the glass with rose petal, cinnamon, cumin and acacia honey. A faint note of dark chocolate adds mature complexity.
Palate
Intensely concentrated and silky, with orange pomander, apricot and honey balanced by finely etched citrus acidity. Sweetness is substantial but never static; ginger and spice gather through the palate before a long, lifted finish of marmalade and fragrant peel.
Food pairing
Pour with apricot tart, orange-scented crème brûlée, blue cheese or a warm almond cake, or serve a small glass on its own after dinner. The magnum format makes an especially graceful centrepiece for a larger gathering and allows this long-lived wine to develop slowly.
Background story
Constantia's sweet wine became one of the most sought-after bottles of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, admired at European courts and referenced by writers including Charles Dickens and Jane Austen. After disappearing from production, it was revived at Klein Constantia in the 1980s under the historic name Vin de Constance.
The 2008 was made by Adam Mason and bottled during Matthew Day's tenure, at a point before the estate moved towards a lighter, shorter maturation regime. In magnum, this mature yet enduring vintage offers both a generous serving format and slower evolution, uniting the wine's storied past with the precision of modern Klein Constantia.
