2015 has been a bumper year for Groot Constantia. From fighting natures wrath in the form of a ravaging fire, to celebrating its 330th birthday and receiving numerous awards for their wines, this year has been beyond memorable.
Here are the highlights from this year:
We celebrated 330 years of legendary wines:
The beginning of February saw Groot Constantia celebrating the 330th year of wine production on the farm in what was a fun and festive event that involved the estates wine maker, staff and harvesters. The wine produced from this momentous harvest will be bottled as a special commemorative vintage to honour and celebrate over three centuries of legendary wine production.
Monday 13 July saw Groot Constantia celebrating its 330th birthday in what was a fun and festive day for young and old alike – with free wine tasting, free massages from Mangwanani Spa, fun kiddies activities and more on offer.
Capetonians joined Groot Constantia en masse to mark this special day and the estate enjoyed the sight and sounds of families having fun and making memories on what is South Africa’s oldest wine producing farm – with an uninterrupted record of wine production since its inception in 1685, boasting a proud heritage of 330 years this year.
Cape Town fires threaten SA oldest wine-producing estate
Devastating fires ravaged Cape Town at the beginning of 2015, which threatened the survival of South Africa’s oldest wine-producing estate. It was remarkable how we were untouched.
Cape Town’s own Monopoly Board
Earlier this year it was announced that Cape Town would have its own edition of the popular Monopoly Board and everyone was invited to nominate who they think should be on the board. We have recently heard that Groot Constantia received a coveted spot!
Awards
Groot Constantia walked away with several awards at the recent 2015 Taj Classic Wine Trophy awards, held in the Taj Cape Town’s new five-star banqueting venue, The Reserve at Taj Cape Town, on Friday 6th March 2015.
Groot Constantia’s 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon, the newly released 2013 Pinotage and the newly released 2013 Merlot all received a coveted Bacchus Trophy.
Groot Constantia’s 2013 Chardonnay has been judged as the best in the world at the recent 22nd annual Chardonnay du Monde competition, which was held from the 11th to the 14th of March in the Burgundy wine region of France.
Groot Constantia’s 2012 Grand Constance wine achieved a Grand Gold award at the 2015 Monde Selection International Wine Contest.
Groot Constantia’s 2012 Shiraz also won a Gold Award at the 2015 Monde Selection International Wine Contest.
Groot Constantia made the list of Top 10 South African Wine Producers as chosen by the SA Wine Index.
Groot Constantia’s 2013 Shiraz achieved a Gold medal and placed in the Top 10 at the 2015 Syrah-du-Monde awards, as well as being selected amongst the top 12 out of 202 entrants at the Shiraz SA Wine Challenge.
Groot Constantia’s 2013 Merlot, 2012 Grand Constance, 2013 Shiraz and 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon all received awards at the 2015 Novare SA Terroir Awards.
Groot Constantia’s 2013 Pinotage was a winner at this year’s Absa Top 10 Pinotage Awards, which honour and recognise local estates that produce wine from this unique and indigenous grape variety.
Groot Constantia’s 2014 Chardonnay won a Prescient Chardonnay Wine Award at the end of October 2015.
On the 19th of November 2015, Groot Constantia, South Africa’s oldest wine-producing estate, beat four other nominees in the Klink Awards Heritage Category (these being Uitkyk, Mooiplaas, KWV Wine Emporium and Diemersdal Wine Estate) to walk away with the award!
Platter’s South African Wine Guide rates 90% of Groot Constantia’s wines with an impressive 4.5 stars when nine of Groot Constantia’s ten submitted wines received a top accolade of 4.5 stars in the 36th edition of this popular guide – annually one of the most eagerly anticipated listings of top-performing wines.
In the Gouverneurs Range both the 2012 Reserve Red and the 2013 Reserve White received 4.5 stars, whilst in the Groot Constantia Range the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2013 Merlot, 2013 Shiraz, 2014 Chardonnay, 2012 Grand Constance, 2013 Cape Ruby and 2013 Pinotage all received 4.5 stars as well. In addition to these accolades the 2013 Constantia Rood received four stars.
