Community Tasting Notes 5

• forceberry wrote: 96 points

  November 20, 2019 - 14,5% alcohol.
  
  Deep, translucent mahogany color with a luminous orange hue. Sweet, intense and very complex nose with aromas of varnish, some cloudberry jam, a little bit of grapey fruit, light smoky tones, a hint of dried apricots, a lifted touch of sweet VA and a creamy yet funky whiff of blue cheese. The wine is moderately full-bodied and very intense on the palate with complex, mature flavors of burnt sugar, some minty lifted notes, a little bit of dried stone fruits, light Earl Grey notes of bergamot and a hint pf saffron. The wine certainly is sweet on the palate, but it seems the residual sugar has started to lose some of its sweetness, since the wine tastes more medium-sweet than unctuous and super-sweet. Balanced, bright acidity. The finish is very long, sticky and showing surprisingly little sweetness along with its complex flavors of bergamot, some caramel, a little bit of maple syrup, light savory notes of oolong tea, a hint of perfumed floral spice and a touch of canned pineapple.
  
  An outstanding and enormously fascinating dessert wine that feels like it must've been sweeter and more unctuous in the past, but has turned out to be less sweet but every bit as impressive with some cellar age. The balance between the obvious yet not overdone sweetness, high acidity and complex fruit flavors is impeccable and the endless layers of developed tertiary characteristics make the wine enormously rewarding. I have no idea how the historical Vin de Constance was, but at least Klein Constantia manages to replicate one aspect with remarkable accuracy: this is truly a world-class sweet wine.

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• markellen.foodies@gmail.com Likes this wine: 94 points

  October 1, 2013 - Brown Bag Wine Dinner at Two Chefs - Double Blind (TWO CHEFS, MIAMI, FL): The wine looks Yellow brown colored. The legs are Slow. It smells like Apricot, Peach, Mineral, Clove, Peony, and Peach blossom. The body is Medium/Full. The wine has Bright texture. The wine finishes Long. It has great acidity. Mark's Dessert Wine(me).
  I got this in 2002 while visiting DeToren in South Africa. It was offered to me by their young Winemaker. The legend is that it was Napoleon's favorite wine.

  Comment

• Paul S wrote: 93 points

  April 24, 2009 - Brunello di Montalcino at Otto (Otto Ristorante, Red Dot Museum): Very good, but a little disappointing after having recently had the stupendous 1999. Beautiful orangey amber hue, almost glowingly so. Nose opened with very South African burnt rubber notes. It took awhile to get past that to the apricots, figs, honey and flowers - very rich and lush. The palate had a thick, syrupy texture. Again, tons of richness, but so nicely balanced out with fresh acidity. I got layered, complex flavours of orange zest, musky, dusky earth tones, tobacco, ash and pure cherry fruit along with brown sugar, liquified flowers and a mushroomy undertone, all beautifully integratedFinish was rather shorter than the 1999, but still good, with an interesting spicy touch at the end. This went very nicely with the foie gras and even better with the desert. I just had a slight problem with the rubberiness - have saved some in the fridge, hopefully that will go away by day 2.

  Comment

• SteveHyde wrote:

  July 9, 2006 - What wonderful stuff. I'd forgotten to record a note on this wine, opened a couple weeks ago when friends came to visit. Sadly, my last, but just as good as ever -- not evolved a bit. Candied orange peel, honeysuckle, citrus fruit, with just enough acid to bring it all into balance, and a huge finish. Fabulous dessert wine. Now to replenish!

  Comment

• Xavier Auerbach wrote: 90 points

  January 25, 2004 - Not as concentrated as the 1996, elegant, wonderful fresh muscat aromas, only 14.5%.

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Wine Definition

• Vintage 1997
• Type White - Sweet/Dessert
• Producer Klein Constantia
• Varietal Muscat de Frontignan
• Designation Vin de Constance
• Vineyard n/a
• Country South Africa
• Region Coastal Region
• SubRegion Cape Peninsula
• Appellation Constantia

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 0 (0%)
• In Cellars 129 (63%)
• Consumed 75 (37%)

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