In 2004 a bottle fragment with the wording “Constantia Wyn” was found on a beach at Lewes, Delaware, USA. According to US Historians, the glass fragment came from the “Severn”, a sailing ship that stranded in the Delaware Bay in 1774. According to Iziko Museums of Cape Town’s Historian, Thijs van der Merwe, bottles with the inscription “Constantia Wyn” was used in the period 1760 to 1840 and originates from the farm currently known as Groot Constantia. This is proof that South African wine was exported to the USA as early as 1774.
Groot Constantia is the oldest wine producing farm in South Africa and coincidentally Lewes is the first town in the first State of the USA.
