Winery · Cape Town

Groot Constantia

Name: Groot Constantia
Address: Cape Town, ZA

South Africa's oldest estate (1685): Where Napoleon received monthly shipments and Jane Austen wrote about Constantia wines in the Cape's most iconic terroir.

What to do there

TourConstantia: Oldest Wine RegionNapoleon had 1,126 litres of this wine shipped annually to his St. Helena prison — on his deathbed in 1821, the story goes, he refused everything offered except a glass of Constantia wine. Simon van der Stel chose this valley in 1685 after testing soil across the entire Cape; inside the 1791 cellar built by a later owner, Hendrik Cloete, a real Grand Constance bottle from 1821 sits in a display case, from a vintage reportedly destined for Napoleon, who died that year. And you can taste the resurrected sweet Muscat that Baudelaire named in the same breath as opium.

Wineries nearby

Winery Groot Constantia: 3,467 Bottles for the King of France Royal patronage legacy: Groot Constantia shipped 3,467 bottles to the King of France in the 18th century, inspiring Jane Austen and Charles Dickens.
Winery · Constantia Klein Constantia Constantia's literary legacy: Jane Austen names Constantia in Sense and Sensibility, and Klein Constantia claims Napoleon drank it on St Helena — a claim Groot Constantia makes for itself.
Winery Buitenverwachting: Beyond Expectation Buitenverwachting (meaning "Beyond Expectations") offers wine tastings in a historic thatched cellar, plus fine dining at restaurant Beyond and artisan coffee at Quaffee roastery.