Made
from 100% Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, the 2009 follows in the footsteps of
the 2008, whose accolades include a 95-point rating in Decanter magazine, and
the 2007, which received an unprecedented 97 points from Neal Martin in Robert
Parker’s Wine Advocate.
Since
1986, its maiden vintage in the modern era, Vin de Constance has been made in
the style of the legendary Constantia sweet wines of the 18th and 19th
centuries, when it was savoured by European royalty (Frederick the Great, Louis
XVI and Queen Victoria to name just a few), appreciated by politicians (from
American founding father George Washington to German chancellor Otto von
Bismarck), and recommended by some of France’s most famous gourmands (including
Brillat-Savarin and Dumas).
The
wine is made by grapes grown on the foothills of the cool climate hills of
Constantia. “The grapes are left to hang to dry on the vine and only the best
bunches are selected and hand-picked,” reveals winemaker Matthew Day. “At the
end of the growing season, the individual berries or raisins are hand picked to
make the essencia, the very heart of the Vin de Constance.”
In 2009,
harvest began in late January and ended in late April, yielding 25 separate
batches, each macerated and fermented differently. After fermentation (which
took between six months to a year), the batches were aged on the lees in a
combination of 60% new French oak, Hungarian oak and French Acacia oak for four
years prior to blending, bottling and labelling by hand.
Production
of Vin de Constance is extremely limited, and only occurs in exceptional years.
There will be no 2010 vintage, for example, which is all the more reason to
savour the 2009.
Day
describes the wine as follows: “Golden orange in colour, with delicate aromas
of nougat and honeycomb. The palate has a fresh acidity with flavours of
Seville marmalade and elegantly dried apricots. These fruity notes are married
with sandalwood and allspice giving us an aromatic, but yet an elegant and
endless finish.”
For more information please contact eve@kleinconstantia.com.