Advent Calendar #13 Groot Constantia Cabernet

My Advent Calendar #13, Groot Constantia Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

Groot Constantia, I regard as the cradle of the South African Wine Industry. Grapes were first pressed in the Cape in 1659 and would probably have been grown in the Company Gardens in Cape Town. There is a legend that the first vines planted on Sea Point Common were blown away by the Southeast Wind, known as the Cape Doctor. However, Groot Constantia was granted to former Dutch Governor Simon van der Stel in 1685 and serious winemaking was under way at the Cape.

Hendrik Cloete Senior

Slightly more than a hundred years later, Mr Hendrik Cloete, the owner, started to make wines of such stature that they graced the wine cellars and tables of royalty, politicians, and writers.

Boela Gerber – Award Winning Winemaker at Groot Drakenstein

No difference today as Boela Gerber as Winemaker, continues to make awesome award-winning wines from grapes provided by his colleague in the Vineyards, Floricious Beukes the Estate’s Vineyardist. Both are fortunate to have great teams working with them.

Cabernet Sauvignon ripening on the vine

Cabernet Sauvignon originated in Bordeaux a couple of hundred years ago as a result of a vineyard crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. Now planted with great success in virtually every wine making country. On Groot Constantia the vines grow on North and East facing soils made up mainly of decomposed granite soils from the Constantia Mountains above the Estate, from whence cometh the cooling breezes off the Benguela Current on the other side of the mountain. Nocturnal inversion causes cooling winds to come up off False Bay.

Groot Constantia Barrel Cellar

Matured in small French Oak Barrels, of which 34% were new, for 14 months. The remaining barrels were made up of selections of 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th fill barrels. The barrels were then blended, and the wine prepared for bottling.

A perfect pairing is with Ina Paarman’s Eggplant Involtini. Click HERE for her recipe. Do have a good look at her website, there’s enough there to keep you in the kitchen for a lifetime…