Cape Town Lifestyle

Last week I attended an event at Groot Constantia Wine Farm, which is situated in the stunning Constantia Valley. I have blogged about my love of Groot Constantia before and shared photographs of the stunning vineyards and historical buildings that the farm is renowned for.

Groot Constantia has always been one of our family’s favourite places to spend long lazy afternoons, lunching in one of their popular restaurants, sipping on the amazing estate wines! This is usually followed by a stroll, along the tree-lined avenue, surrounded by the magnificent vineyards and majestic mountains.

This event was being held to celebrate the new Groot Constantia Gouverneur’s Reserve label, as well as the official unveiling of the upgraded tasting room. This was definitely an event that I had really been looking forward to attending!

The day before the event, Cape Town was launched into the first of this years stormy winter episodes! Weather predictions for the following day were anything but good, with torrential downpours and flooding predicted but the event was to go on as planned! A bit of rain was not going to dampen our spirits, especially with the offer of good food and amazing wines – wild horses would not keep me away!

We were transported to the event from the V&A Waterfront, aboard the Red Sightseeing Bus, which on a less stormy day would have been ideal but the atmosphere on the bus was fun and filled with great expectations for the day ahead.

We arrived at Groot Constantia and managed to make a dash from the bus and get out of the rain! We were greeted with a glass of Groot Constantia bubbly and delicious canapes, courtesy of Jonkerhuis Restaurant. The rain outside was quickly forgotten!

Jean Naudé, the CEO of Groot Constantia, then gave us a brief history of the farm, which is the oldest wine estate in South Africa. It is a farm steeped in history and it is very apparent that the preservation of its heritage, is of paramount importance. The Groot Constantia legacy has spread far and wide, with bottles, bottle shards and bottle seals, which have been discovered in far corners of the world, dating from as far back as 1774. The current owner of the estate is the Groot Constantia Trust, a non-profit company, which ensures that Groot Constantia is beautifully maintained and operated to the highest of standards.

Next on the agenda was the official opening and ribbon cutting of the newly revamped tasting room, which epitomizes how Groot Constantia, successfully blends the old with the new. The tasting room is warm and inviting and beautifully decorated.

This was followed by a tasting of the newly labeled Gouverneurs Reserve range of wines. The “new” wine label is a celebration of the Groot Constantia heritage and is in fact an exact reproduction of one of the Estates historical labels, which has been brought back into use to distinguish and honour the Gouverneurs Reserve range of wines. I got a bit carried away with taking photographs of the wine…

and more photos of wine…

and yet more photos of wine!

After a rather informative cellar tour we made our way to Simons restaurant to continue the festivities. Simon’s holds very special memories, for me, as my baby brother had his wedding reception there in 2011!

We were greeted with a glass of Port, perfect considering the chilly weather and the treated to an array of delicious finger foods and yummy Groot Constantia wines. My personal favourite wine was the Shiraz – which was perfect as it was definitely red wine weather!

One truly has to experience Groot Constantia to feel Groot Constantia – it is about rich history, a beautiful setting, friendly people, memories to be made, fun to be had and, of course, wine to be savoured and enjoyed.

Thank you to Groot Constantia and the organisers for a wonderful day, enriched by good food, amazing wine and great people!

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