Constantia Wine Route redux

When people think “Wine Route”, they generally think of Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Paarl or Wellington (jks – no-one goes to Wellington deliberately). We think that Local is lekker though, so we headed just down the road to sample a bit of what Constantia had to offer.

It had been a while since we had been on the Constantia Wine Route, and we came far from doing all of it today. However, three wine farms and 19 wines later, we’d had a good time. It was only when we got back that I realised I hadn’t taken many photos. Having too much fun, see?

First up was Klein Constantia, where a tasting is R30 for 7 wines, but buy a bottle (or more) and they’ll waive the fee. The informative Johan helped us out. They still have their peculiar ‘stand up and taste’ set up, but the wines are superb, including (of course) their famous Vin de Constance and the last of their unusual, but incredible 2007 Madame Marlbrook. All I need is some fine quality seafood to pair it up with now.
I don’t have much more to add here. They just do stuff well, with understated elegance.

Then it was up the hill to Eagles’ Nest. It’s another beautiful place, without the spectacular views of its closest neighbours, but with enthusiastic service; it’s family friendly and tourist driven (it’s on the Red Bus wine tour). The wines though? Not all that. Perhaps the exception was their Little Eagle Rosé, which was alive with crisp strawberry flavours. Their flagship 2012 Shiraz was rather ordinary, and – I thought – vastly overpriced at R225 a bottle. Those Brits on the bus must have thought they were in heaven though. When you compare this with what you get in Tesco for what is essentially ten quid – suddenly you start to understand the pricing structure. R50 gets you a 5 wine tasting, and you have to spend over R300 per person to get that refunded.

Protea on the way up to Constantia Glen

And then onward and upward to Constantia Glen. Last time we were up here (amazingly 4 years ago to the day), we had the tiny place to ourselves. This time, we were greeted with a bright, modern, brand new tasting room and restaurant, plus literally hundreds of people. We got the last two seats at the bar and tucked into one of their cheese and charcuterie platters with a Premium (capital P) wine tasting (R80 for seven wines) for me and a white wine tasting (R55 for 4 wines) for Mrs 6k. Enoch may have helped her out with a couple of refills though. If you’re Enoch’s boss and you have a problem with this, then he didn’t. But he’s still great.

Wines here are excellent, especially their Estate Range Sauvignon Blanc with lots of grass and lots of green figs. On the reds, the bold Three is good, but the hugely rich and deep Five French blend is simply sublime and paired beautifully with the cheeses on the platter. We spent [rather a lot] here, meaning that our tasting was gratis and we have a nicely stocked wine rack for the foreseeable future. Winning.

We’re so lucky to have these amazing places right on our doorstep, but we sometimes need a reminder that they are there. So, let this blog post be it and give yourself a few hours off over the summer holiday enjoying some of the superb wine Constantia has to offer.

Not a sponsored post. Just a really good day.

Chalk and Cheese (and Wine) (and Whine)

With some tourists in tow, it seemed that the most obvious thing to do was to continue the great tradition of Cape Town tourism and head out down the Constantia Wine Route – once described as “one of the most underrated attractions in Cape Town”.

And some of it is.

Klein Constantia is always a pleasure to visit. Their easy-drinking “KC” Cab Sauv/Merlot wasn’t on offer today, but they had a ludicrously good red blend from 2008 with plenty of Petit Verdot and plenty of Cabernet Franc. The hostess was friendly and informative: no question was too big or small and we lingered longer because of it. The tasting was free and although we didn’t buy there, we went away knowing that we would looking for their stuff in the supermarkets and – in my parent’s case – at the local UK importer.

Compare and contrast this experience with “The Wine Shop” at Constantia Uitsig. Their tasting comes in at R25 a head and there was a distinct lack of engagement with the customers. We were given a tasting sheet and the wine was brought out, poured and taken away again. It was all a bit unfriendly, but having paid, we weren’t about to leave without at least trying the wines. That took time though, because the hostess was more interested in chatting to her friends behind the high desk. Thus, we found ourselves sitting and chatting about anything but wine while waiting for glasses to be refilled. I don’t think that’s going to help their sales much.
The final wine we tasted there was their dessert wine: Muscat d’Alexandrie. When it was poured, the hostess told us that it should never be served too cold as it ruined the taste, but that their bottle had been sitting next to the freezer and so was… er… too cold. Much like the rest of their selection – and the service there – it was very average and a big disappointment to the tourists in our party.

By this time, mildly delayed by the poor service, we were getting hungry, so we headed next door the The River Cafe. Things started well with some decent coffees, but it really degenerated into an absolute farce by the end. The waitress took the order, but didn’t put it into the system and so we watched as others arrived after us and tucked into their lunch. When we enquired about our food, we were told by manager that it would be about 5 minutes. Most of it eventually arrived about 10 minutes later with no apology. It was mostly pretty good, although the muffins were rock hard – like “unable to get through the crust with a knife” rock hard. For a one course meal to take 1½ hours is ridiculous and annoying. (To be charged for the bent knife was extremely irritating as well.)

Day seemingly ruined, we decided to brave Steenberg anyway. Nothing ventured, nothing gained and looking on the bright side, it couldn’t be much worse, could it?
Well no – actually it was much better and restored our faith in our new shorter version of the Constantia Wine Route, which now bypasses Uitsig completely, save for raising a middle finger as you drive past it. At Steenberg, we got a free and informative cellar tour from Graham and then the charming and hugely enthusiastic Zelda took us through their selection. You could see that there was a pride and a passion in their work and it really mended our broken day. The wines were pretty good as well – even the whites and I don’t really like whites. But it was their 2008 Shiraz that finished off my day completely.
Wow – I got pepper, I got spice, I got flavour. I got quite, quite pissed. Is nice.

So –  here’s another 6000 Recommends… tip: if you’re going to do the Constantia Wine Route, don’t do Constantia Uitsig. But do do Klein Constantia and Steenberg.
And then go back and do them again.

Simple as that.

Five stars

When it comes to catching on to social media and the internet as a marketing tool, I think it’s fair to say that some of the more traditional industries have been a little behind the curve. I’d include wine-making in that category, but it does seem that some SA wineries are beginning to realise not just what to do with social media, but how to do it and how to do it right – as demonstrated in this short video released by the Klein Constantia vineyard just down the road from chez 6000:

True – there are still a few signs of naivety: leaving the video title as “kc master.mp4” is a little amateur, for example. But it’s a good effort, it’s well made, it’s fun and shows that even after 321 years, there’s still room for innovation.
And that’s impressive.

Oh – and they’re not bad at making damn good wine, either.
Fine work all round.