Bottle and Barrel

Signature Tasting Cap Classique Blanc de Blanc 2020 Metis Sauvignon Blanc 2019 Sauvignon Blanc 2023 Chardonnay 2023 Estate Red

I actually enjoyed the Napoleon film with Joaquin Phoenix. Despite the poor reviews and scathing criticism from Bonaparte buffs (the correct but rather clumsy term is “Bonapartists”) I hadn’t retained enough of Andrew Roberts’ doorstopper Napoleon the Great to notice the great many details that were apparently either left out or embellished. 

But I did notice one omission, albeit belatedly: there was no “Vin de Constance”.

According to the South African wine estate Klein Constantia, whose signature creation since 1685 has been this late-harvest dessert wine, Napoleon downed nearly a bottle a day of the sweet elixir during his five-year exile on St. Helena. The only glimpse we get of Mr. Phoenix on the island, however, shows him sipping water. Also absent is the little corporal’s death bed, where he’s rumored to have turned down all food and drink except, you guessed it, Vin de Constance. 

CONSTANTIA WINE IN LITERATURE SENSE AND SENSIBILITY BY JANE AUSTEN In the drawing room, whither she then repaired, she was soon joined by Mrs Jennings with a wine glass full of something in her hand.  “My dear,” said she, entering, “I have just recollected that I have some of the finest old Constantia wine in the house that ever was tasted, so I have brought a glass of it for your sister. My poor husband! How fond he was of it! Whenever he had a touch of his old colicky gout, he said it did him more good than anything else in the world. Do take it to your sister.”  ….Elinor, as she swallowed the chief of it, reflected that though its good effects on a colicky gout were at present of little importance to her, its healing powers on a disappointed heart might be as reasonably tried on herself as on her sister.

It’s a bit in your face, really, this Vin de Constance. My girlfriend and I recently went to a tasting at the estate and couldn’t escape the bottle’s label, which follows you around as a constant reminder of the wine farm’s claim to fame. The gift shop sells pricey Vin de Constance candles. Shelves carry oversized Vin de Constance display bottles (sort of like those enormous Nutella jars one finds in Europe). The wine menu, usually a thing reserved for wine, lists among the Vin de Constance vintages a Vin de Constance “box”.¹

I’m making it sound far worse than it is really, this marketing. After all, it’s justified: Vin de Constance was prized by the likes of George IV, Frederick the Great, Queen Victoria, and the Duke of Marlborough–of course this will be flaunted. I just found the whole thing funny, at one point verging on farce: our server, who was nervous and had previously confessed that she was new to the job, approached the table with our third wine from the tasting, and with a timid smile said “and now I’d like to introduce you to the wine that has made Klein Constantia world famous: the 2023 Sauvignon Blanc.” (At the risk of over-explaining the joke, the humor here isn’t so much in her error – which was innocent enough – but in the irony that someone could leave Klein Constantia thinking it’s signature wine is anything other than what is so loudly advertised).

All jokes aside, Klein Constantia is well worth a visit and should certainly be on your itinerary if you’re stopping by neighbouring wine farms Groot Constantia and Constantia Glen. If you’re a fan of sweet wines, then you must go. If you’re not a fan of sweet wines, the estate’s cool climate still produces excellent whites. And if you’re a fan of neither, the venue is worthy in its own right, ranked 32 globally by World’s Best Vineyards (“Creation“, just two hours east, is ranked fourth).  

7/10

1. I inquired about said box and learned that, while unfortunately empty, this is more than offset by a beautiful Vin de Constance label on the lid.  ↩︎