A generous friend and fellow wine lover opened a bottle of Klein Constantia’s famed Vin de Constance at dinner last night. It was the 1989 vintage, so this wine was already 33 years old. What a treat! While fully developed and clearly aging, with tertiary aromas and flavours predominant, it was a rare pleasure to taste this sweet elixir from the Cape.
Vin de Constance was Klein Constantia’s attempt to recreate the fabled dessert wine that was made at Constantia in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and which graced the tables of royalty, politicians, sybarites and artists around the world back then. Unfortified, and made from desiccated Muscat de Frontignan grapes that raisin naturally on the vine and are un-botrytised, the wine is aged in oak barrels for several years. Vin de Constance has become a Cape wine icon, with prices to match (the current vintage sells here in Vancouver for about $120 per 500ml bottle).
So how did the 1989 (only the third vintage since the inaugural 1986) taste? Well, rich aromas of toffee, caramel, marzipan and honeyed apricot dominated, along with earthy, tarry, leathery notes. The palate was similar but also had an acidic backbone that kept the wine this side of blowsy. Further tertiary flavours emerged on the long, complex finish. The naturally high 15.5% alcohol level was well-disguised. It felt like ‘drinking’ super ripe raisins or sultanas. An extraordinary vinous experience…