Description: Groot Constantia is superbly set southeast of Table Mountain, just out of Cape Town’s suburbs, and has a variety of buildings in the Cape-Dutch architectural style, with beautifully laid-out gardens to explore. There is a small, user-friendly museum outlining the history of this estate. It was first formed in 1685, when Simon van der Stel was given the land for a farm. The Cloete family farmed the land for over a century until around 1890, when bad luck hit them and a disease ravaged their vines, and they were forced to sell to the South African government.
The estate, from its height of over 200 metres above sea level, offers wonderful vistas over the Cape Town area. When we visited, the main restaurant was being used for a wedding, and my wife was entranced by the setting, so obviously being enjoyed by the newly married couple. The imposing manor house was the setting for some filming, and although we had to keep away from the actors, it did not restrict our viewing of the building, which is crammed full of period furniture, local artifacts, and artwork.
A fair walk up the hill from the manor house, you can see the 18th century "plunge pool" and stroll on the terraces of the old formal gardens. From up here, you can really appreciate the lushness of the landscape and those distant mountains. You know, the setting was so superb that we nearly forgot to taste the wine! There is a small tasting fee, but you get to keep your glasses. The tasting area was not the best we’d experienced (a bit too large, with no ambience), but Groot Constantia has a good range of wines, and we tried half a dozen.
The chardonnay is always a great starter, and the new French oak used here produces a crisp wine, not over-oaked (even my wife enjoyed it, and she doesn’t usually enjoy a white oaked wine). The Riesling was much too earthy and sweet for me, lacking the elegance that I would wish to associate with this grape (however, this has never been one of my favourites, so perhaps I’m prejudiced). Our favourites are the reds. The Shiraz was all you would expect – a tinge of liquorice on the nose and then a rush of rich, fruity flavours with a slight pepperiness; the shiraz-merlot was a delight to swirl, and the blend of grapes worked to give a ripe and rich complexity on the palate, with a grand aftertaste; my favourite was the pinotage unfiltered (Groot Constantia extols the virtue of unfiltered wine – is this eco-friendly or a chance to hoist the price?), which assaulted the nose with a mixture of the unconventional and then attacked the palate with a concentrated fruitiness and enticed you to "chew on the wine".
I’d recommend Groot Constantia to you as a place to visit – perhaps you can try the restaurant when you’re there and tell me what I missed!
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