Winemaker Notes
Vibrant and tantalizing from the bright, golden appearance to the lingering, zesty finish. The nose is layered with aspects of citrus blossom, honeycomb and stone fruit which follow through onto the palate. Full bodied, the mouthfeel is rich and creamy with a refreshing acidity.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2015 Vin de Constance is limpid silver-gold in the glass. It has a bouquet of acacia honey, marmalade and pressed yellow flowers, plus a slight adhesive note in the background; I cannot recall a Vin de Constance with such intense aromatics. The palate is viscous on the entry, and a vital bead of acidity lends balance and freshness. This is an all-consuming, multidimensional wine with marmalade and dried quince notes mixed with Moroccan spices toward an unctuous finish that leaves your head spinning. Awesome.
Rating: 93+ -
Wine Spectator
This sweetie features a gorgeous bouquet of orange blossom and juniper flavors, while the mouthfilling palate carries dried mango and candied apricot notes, accented by hints of quince paste, honeysuckle and sweetened green tea. Rich and intense, but with piercing acidity delivering balance. Long and complex. Drink now through 2030. 2,000 cases made, 200 cases imported.
Apart from the classics, we find many regional gems of different styles.
Late harvest wines are probably the easiest to understand. Grapes are picked so late that the sugars build up and residual sugar remains after the fermentation process. Ice wine, a style founded in Germany and there referred to as eiswein, is an extreme late harvest wine, produced from grapes frozen on the vine, and pressed while still frozen, resulting in a higher concentration of sugar. It is becoming a specialty of Canada as well, where it takes on the English name of ice wine.
Vin Santo, literally “holy wine,” is a Tuscan sweet wine made from drying the local white grapes Trebbiano Toscano and Malvasia in the winery and not pressing until somewhere between November and March.
Rutherglen is an historic wine region in northeast Victoria, Australia, famous for its fortified Topaque and Muscat with complex tawny characteristics.
One of the most famous and celebrated wine regions imported throughout Europe during the 18th century, Constantia was founded in 1685 by a Dutch governor named Simon van der Stel who ran a successful wine farm for many years.
Constantia vineyards, planted in ancient soil beds, climb up the east-facing slopes of the Constantiaberg, where the vines receive cool sea breezes blowing in from False Bay.