Beautiful late afternoon light
on the vines at Wade Bales’ Cellar in Constantia. Wade is a wine merchant (or,
in French, a Negociant). We were there for the launch of a wine commissioned by and made especially
for Wade; the first in his pioneering Wade Bales Regional Series: The Constantia
White, a blend of 67% Sauvignon Blanc and 33% Semillon - as Wade says, the two
hero varietals of the region. This is the outcome of a collaboration combining
the talents of seven of Constantia’s top wine farms. Each winemaker selected a
component of Sauvignon Blanc and/or Semillon from their best vineyards, tanks
and barrels. All seven then participated in the rigorous tasting and blending
process, hand crafting the best wine that represents Constantia
We were welcomed with a glass of
Constantia bubbly; you could choose which one you preferred
Journalist Mel Minnaar with
winemakers Matthew Day of Klein Constantia and Boela Gerber and Louise van der Westhuizen of Groot
Constantia. Are they discussing sweet wines of the valley?
Under the tent, you could taste
wines from all seven of the Constanta wineries involved
while waiting for the release
of the Constantia White
JD Pretorius, cellarmaster at
Steenberg, with his selection
The Steenberg white wines, including the
wonderful 1999 Semillon
Louise van der Westhuizen, who has recently joined Groot Constantia as assistant winemaker
Winemakers JD Pretorius of Steenberg,
Boela Gerber of Groot Constantia, Justin van Wyk of Constantia Glen and Brad
Paton of Buitenverwachting. An interesting fact is that all the seven
Constantia winemakers involved have been there at least 10 years and some, like
Boela and Brad, for longer
Wade Bales introduced the wine
and we were all given glasses of it to taste
He told us that The Stellenbosch
Red, a Cabernet Sauvignon 2017, will be available after mid 2019
Wade introduced the winemakers
from the seven top Constantia wine estates who collaborated to make the wine and
donated some of their best barrels of Sauvignon Blanc to go into the wine. They
were asked to talk about their contributions. L to R, Gregory Brink Louw of
Silvermist, Matthew Day of Klein Constantia, JD Pretorius of Steenberg, Boela
Gerber of Groot Constantia, Brad Paton of Buitenverwachting and Justin van Wyk
of Constantia Glen (Jacques du Plessis of Constantia Uitsig is not in this photograph)
The wine. A classic, classy
Constantia indeed, with green pepper, asparagus and peas and a little perfume
on the nose, the wine has minerality and that special semillon mutton fat
weight. Crisp and lean with elegance; long flavours of lime and granadilla and
some wood notes appear with some grapefruit bitterness on the end. Definitely a
food wine. 900 six bottle cases were made and it will sell at R220 a bottle.
R10 from every bottle sold will go to support a sustainable solution to Baboon
management in the area
Afterwards, there was a very
good repast on a table filled with cold meats,
cheeses, dips, bread, chutneys
and relishes from the area
Also cold soup; other dishes
appeared from the kitchen and there were fresh strawberries,
dates and other fruit
dates and other fruit
Then we found a table to sit at
and eat and try the Constantia White wine with food; it goes very well
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2018
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