Constantia (wine)

Constantia, or vin de Constance, 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. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was widely exported to Europe. However, production of Constantia ceased in the late nineteenth century following the devastation of South African vineyards by the phylloxera epidemic. Production resumed at Klein Constantia in the mid-1990s and at Groot Constantia in 2003.

History

In 1685, the Constantia estate was established in a valley facing False Bay by the Governor of the Cape, Simon van der Stel whose Vin de Constance soon acquired a good reputation.^[1][2] But it was Hendrik Cloete, who bought the homestead in 1778,^[1][3] who really made 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 and a little Chenin Blanc. It became a favorite of European kings and emperors, such as Frederick the Great and Napoleon who had it ordered from his exile on St Helena.^[1]

In 1861, however, the Gladstone government removed empire preferential tariffs, and as a result exports nearly dried up, and the golden era was brought to an end when the vineyards were decimated by phylloxera and powdery mildew,^[1] 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.^[4]

The wine that is produced at Groot Constantia is called Grand Constance and the original wine Vin de Constance is still produced at Klein Constantia.

In popular culture

• In Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen's character Mrs Jennings recommends a little Constantia for "its healing powers on a disappointed heart".^[4]
• In Charles Dickens' last (and unfinished) novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Constantia wine is served to the reverend Septimus by his mother. "As, whenever the Reverend Septimus fell a-musing, his good mother took it to be an infallible sign that he ‘wanted support,’ the blooming old lady made all haste to the dining-room closet, to produce from it the support embodied in a glass of Constantia and a home-made biscuit."^[5]
• In Charles Baudelaire's ( Les fleurs du mal) poem XXVI entitled sed non satiata Baudelaire declares that he prefers the mouth of his lover than the constantia and Nuits St. Georges wines

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} winepros.com.au The Oxford Companion to Wine. "Constantia". http://www.winepros.com.au/jsp/cda/reference/oxford_entry.jsp?entry_id=798. 
2. ^ Atkin, Tim, The Observer (January 18, 2009). "Happy returns". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jan/18/tim-atkin-wine-south-africa. 
3. ^ capeinfo.com Great history of Constantia
4. ^ ^{a b} sawinesonline.co.uk History of Constantia
5. ^ Charles Dickens The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Chapter X