Groot Constantia’s wines have done it again, this time walking away with two Silver, a Gold, two Double Gold, and a Platinum award at the 2017 Michelangelo International Wine & Spirit Awards which took place on Friday 29 September.
Jean Naudé, CEO of Groot Constantia explains that the Michelangelo awards give local and foreign wines the opportunity of being judged by a panel of acclaimed wine experts from around the globe. All judges are hand-picked and serve on the panel by invitation only.
Groot Constantia’s 2015 Merlot, as well as the 2010 Gouverneurs Reserve Red (entered as a Golden Oldie) both won a Silver Award, the 2009 Gouverneurs Reserve Red (also a Golden Oldie entry) won a Gold award, and the 2015 Shiraz and 2015 Cabernet both walked away with a Double Gold Grand D’or.
Historic wine takes Platinum
The 2014 Grand Constance achieved the highest possible accolade, with a Platinum award – fitting for what is Groot Constantia’s flagship wine and one that dates back to the Napoleonic era.
Before his death in 1821, Napoleon enjoyed ‘Grand Constance’ as his standard tipple while in exile. It is recorded that Louis Phillipe (King of the French) was a regular client. The British Royal family, as well as Frederic the Great of Prussia, have also all appreciated the famous sweet wine of Constantia.
Charles Dickens celebrated it in Edwin Drood, Jane Austen’s character recommended it as a cure for a broken heart in Sense and Sensibility and Charles Baudelaire compared Constantia wine to his lover‘s lips in his most famous volume of poems, Les Fleurs du Mal.
The resurrection of South Africa’s heritage wine
Several years ago, under the guidance of awarded wine maker Boela Gerber, Groot Constantia took the decision to recreate the renowned Grand Constance wine – far from an easy task and one which entailed much experimentation, sampling and laboratory grade testing.
Finally, armed with a formula that would recreate a wine very similar to the Grand Constance from 200 years ago, (with skilled adjustments to appeal to more modern tastes) coupled with five years of design and engineering to recreate a historically accurate bottle – Groot Constantia took a leap of faith and using a blend of red and white Muscat de Frontignan grapes the estate resurrected this grand old wine.
Grand Constance no stranger to awards
Since then the “new” Grand Constance has not let its ancestor down and continues to rake in the awards, having achieved the highest possible honour at the 2016 Decanter Asia Wine Awards where, surpassing Gold, Grand Constance received Platinum for being the Best South African Sweet Wine – achieving a rare 98 points out of a possible 100, and being classed as “exceptional” in what is Asia’s leading wine competition.
The 2015 Grand Constance vintage received a Grand Gold award at the globally-renowned Monde Selection International Wine Contest last year. Most recently this historically significant wine was awarded a Gold Medal and a position in the Top10 Muscats in the world list at the 17th annual Muscats du Monde wine competition.
Grand Constance has also achieved a Best In Its Class at the Top 100 SA Wine awards and a Gold award at the 2016 Michelangelo International Wine and Spirits Awards.
“We are delighted and proud of this latest Platinum achievement by our Grand Constance – a wine that, due to its long history with Groot Constantia, we all hold close to our hearts. These latest awards from the Michelangelo International Wine & Spirit Awards are an excellent recognition to our vineyard and winemaking team for their continuous drive to increase quality across the board. Groot Constantia’s wines, which are hand-crafted in small volumes, in general continue to rake in the awards, with the estate having won over 100 top accolades in the past 10 years alone,” concludes Naudé.
For more information visit www.grootconstantia.co.za or connect with Groot Constantia via social media on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @GrootConstantia