Its no wonder French wine connoisseur and warrior, Napoleon, spent his last years on St. Helena favouring wine from Constantia above that of Bordeaux. One could expect nothing less from a region of such climactic diversity and superiority.
Origins
MISSION VALLEY
Jan van Riebeeck brought vines to the Cape in the 1600's, and set about planting grapes on Greenpoint Common in Cape Town - little known then, the site of the 2010 soccer stadium. Fortune favoured the stadium over the grapes and when the venture failed, he moved attempts to a farm near the northern parts of the Liesbeeck River. Later, Dutchman Simon van Der Stel, the first governor of the Cape, retired to a valley in the area, on the slopes of Table Mountain which he named after little Constanza, daughter of his benefactor. When he died, the farm was further subdivided and passed numerous hands thereafter.
Haunted manors
The southern end of the Valley is known as Tokai. The manor house is still said to be haunted at midnight on New Years Eve by the son of the family who acquired the farm. The creepy story recounts how he galloped into the dining room for a wager. His stallion was alarmed on exit by the slave bell ringing in the New Year, and he died stumbling off the high front patio.
Alphen and Klein Constantia join the rest of the estates in contributing to tales and remnants of rich historical value.
The Estates
The Constantia wine route constitutes the vineyards of Buitenverwachting, Constantia Uitsig, Steenberg, Groot and Klein Constantia. A combination of cool ocean breezes and fine warm weather grace these valleys, and though famous for exclusive dessert wines, the area's climactic variance also allows for the production of some of the country's finest Cabernet, Merlot and Sauvignon blanc.
Cape Town's Big Six: The Constantia Vineyards MISSION VALLEY
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