Homecoming of Grand Constance Bottle
Category News
After 195 years, an extremely rare Grand Constance bottle from the 1821 vintage has been returned to the Groot Constantia wine estate.
The bottle was returned to the Cloete Cellar where it was originally produced. The event held great significance to the South African wine industry and Cape Town’s rich cultural and wine heritage.
Groot Constantia was the successful bidder in an online auction for this historical Grand Constance bottle. Said Dr Ernest Messina, Chairperson of the Groot Constantia Trust, “With such a notable and celebrated history to this centuries’ old South African brand we are suitably excited to have this nearly two centuries old Grand Constance bottle returning to its ‘birthplace’.”
History of the bottle
Dating back two centuries, Grand Constance has always been famous for its superior quality and was the wine of choice for emperors and kings in Europe, such as Frederick the Great of Prussia, King Louis Philippe and Napoleon Bonaparte of France. Napoleon, in fact, had 30 bottles of Grand Constance shipped to St Helena while he was in exile.
Cloete Cellar Time Capsule
To mark the occasion, the estate bricked up a time capsule in the wall of the Cloete Cellar “filled with 12 bottles of Grand Constance 2009. This time capsule will be opened on 2 February 2109 when the South African wine industry will be celebrating 450 years of existence. The time capsuled wine will then be 100 years old.”
According to Messina the cellar will form an even more integral part of Groot Constantia’s unique new Visitors Route as “half of the cellar will house a museum, whilst the other half will be an additional tasting room where visitors can have a unique heritage experience of the Groot Constantia’s wines.”
Visitors to the estate will also be able to view the 195 year old Grand Constance bottle. “I am confident that the sense of history that visitors will feel whilst standing in a room that produced that very same bottle 195 years ago will not fail to impress and, will indeed serve to inspire,” concluded Messina.
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Picture: IOL
Author: Seeff
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