Constantia (wine)

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Constantia is a South African dessert wine. It is made from Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains (Muscat de Frontignan) grapes grown in the district of Constantia, south of Cape Town.

The wine was immensely popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and was exported to Europe. However, production of Constantia dessert wine ceased in the late nineteenth century following the devastation of South African vineyards by the phylloxera louse. Production resumed at Klein Constantia in the mid-1990s and at Groot Constantia in 2003.

[edit] History

In 1685, the Constantia estate was established in a valley facing False Bay by the Governor of the Cape, Simon van der Stel. His 'Vin de Constance' soon acquired a good reputation. But it was Hendrik Cloete, who bought the homestead in 1778,[1] who really made the name of Constantia famous, with an unfortified wine made from a blend of mostly Muscat de Frontignan (Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains), Pontac, red and white Muscadel (probably clones of Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains??) and a little Chenin Blanc. It became a favourite tipple of European kings and emperors, from Frederick the Great to Napoleon. But the vineyards were decimated by phylloxera, the Cloete family were bankrupted, and Groot Constantia was sold to the government as an experimental station. In 1980 Duggie Jooste bought Klein Constantia, redeveloped it, and is now selling a new version of Vin de Constance made from Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains.[2]

[edit] Constantia in popular culture

  • German poet Klopstock wrote a romantic ode to Constantia wine, Der Kapwein und der Johannesberger
  • In Les Fleurs du Mal (1857), Baudelaire compares it : "je prefere au constance, a l'opium, aux nuits, L'elixir de ta bouche ou l'amour se pavane,"

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1] Great history of Constantia
  2. ^ History of Constantia