The 2018 Klein Constantia Vin de Constance is a masterful South African dessert wine, glowing golden in the glass and bursting with complexity. Aromas of Seville orange marmalade, ginger spice, and grapefruit lead into a palate that’s rich, vibrant, and full-bodied.
Salinity, bright acidity, and sweetness intertwine with luxurious precision, finishing with a touch of pithy astringency and remarkable length. A benchmark Muscat de Frontignan, this vintage is a must for collectors and sweet wine lovers seeking depth, balance, and age-worthy elegance in every sip.
Salinity, bright acidity, and sweetness intertwine with luxurious precision, finishing with a touch of pithy astringency and remarkable length. A benchmark Muscat de Frontignan, this vintage is a must for collectors and sweet wine lovers seeking depth, balance, and age-worthy elegance in every sip.
The build up to the 2018 harvest included the highest summer rainfall of the past 6 years as well as some of the coldest average night time temperatures, giving the vines a long and slow growing season. Our bunches were lighter, however our berries were small and perfect, resulting in elegant flavors with good concentration and succinct characters. Harvest 2018 was the second longest harvest at Klein Constantia since 1986.
The 2018 vintage of Vin de Constance was a textbook with cold weather. We harvested 21 different batches, starting early February, bringing in grapes with higher acidity, and continuing until mid April, bringing in grapes with more maturity and flavor. These individual parcels are the unique components which form the building blocks of Vin de Constance.
They allow us to craft a wine that has the perfect balance between alcohol, acidity and sugar. The final wine entails a detailed and focused period of blending, during and after fermentation. This wine was aged for 3 years in a combination of 50% new French oak barrels, a small amount of acacia barrels, as well as large format foudres before final blending and then bottling.
The combination of residual sugar and alcohol levels has a well known preservative effect on bottled wine. This wine is capable of ageing for many decades if not generations from release.
The 2018 vintage of Vin de Constance was a textbook with cold weather. We harvested 21 different batches, starting early February, bringing in grapes with higher acidity, and continuing until mid April, bringing in grapes with more maturity and flavor. These individual parcels are the unique components which form the building blocks of Vin de Constance.
They allow us to craft a wine that has the perfect balance between alcohol, acidity and sugar. The final wine entails a detailed and focused period of blending, during and after fermentation. This wine was aged for 3 years in a combination of 50% new French oak barrels, a small amount of acacia barrels, as well as large format foudres before final blending and then bottling.
The combination of residual sugar and alcohol levels has a well known preservative effect on bottled wine. This wine is capable of ageing for many decades if not generations from release.
Klein Constantia is a historic South African winery set on the cool, sea-breezed slopes of Constantia. Founded in 1685, the estate is famed for reviving the legendary Vin de Constance, once favored by kings and poets alike. Under the thoughtful guidance of winemaker Matthew Day, Klein Constantia continues to produce elegant, expressive wines that honor centuries of heritage and the unique terroir of this remarkable place.
