Cape Ruby 2021

Groot Constantia, a few kilometers from Cape Town, is the oldest estate in South Africa. It commemorated its 335th anniversary in 2020! Groot Constantia is renowned for its famous Vin de Constance, a unique blend of Red and White Muscat, a wine that was favored by Napoleon during his exile on Île Ste Helene, but it also produces a very pretty Port-style wine! The climate is Mediterranean, with cool winds coming from the Atlantic Ocean. The soils are incredibly diverse for such a small area, allowing the cultivation of a wide variety of grape varieties.

The harvest takes place at the end of March. The grapes first macerated with the skins. After pressing the fermentation was stopped by adding brandy when the sugar level reached 95g/liter. The wine then underwent aging for 22 months in used French barrels. Intense ruby ​​in color, this wine demonstrates incredible complexity on the nose, combining aromas of ripe black fruits , dark chocolate , licorice and dried fruits . In the mouth it is just as surprising with once again a very beautiful intensity. The alcohol is well integrated, with a long and silky finish.

The first vines were planted in South Africa by Dutch settlers in the 1650s, although wine production did not really begin to take off until the arrival of French Protestants, in the 1680s, with their skills and their knowledge of viticulture. Stellenbosch is also a historic wine region, with the first vineyards being planted there in the 1690s. Today South Africa is one of the most important wine producing countries in the southern hemisphere. With over 300 years of winemaking history, it is often described as a bridge between the Old and New Worlds. The majority of wines are produced using New World winemaking techniques, but they often have more in common stylistically with their Old World counterparts. Since the end of apartheid, South African wine has received international attention and acclaim for its wide variety of styles. South Africa's wine industry is spread across the lush and rugged landscape of the Western Cape. Here, the abundance of mountains, valleys and plateaus allows winemakers to produce a wide variety of styles. Vineyards can also be found in the Orange River region of the Northern Cape, where the flat, arid landscape is dominated by the Kalahari Desert. Most of South Africa's wine regions have a Mediterranean climate, strongly influenced by the meeting of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The country's signature grape variety is Pinotage, an indigenous cross of Pinot Noir and Cinsaut that is rarely found in quantity in other wine-producing countries. Shiraz (Syrah) is also widely planted, as are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (often combined in a Bordeaux blend). South African Chardonnay, Chenin and Sauvignon Blanc have become popular internationally in recent years.