A South African dessert wine with a long links to history, appears on the menu for a masked ball in 50 Shades Darker, the sequel to the international bestseller book 50 Shades of Grey. Vin de Constance was the wine that Napoleon Bonaparte drank on his deathbed on Elba. In Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, Mrs Jennings recommends Constantia for "its healing powers on a disappointed heart".The story goes further back, to 1685 when Simon van der Stel, Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, set men to work, digging up soil along the southern slopes of the Cape Peninsula and having the soil tested. The samples showed that the valley facing False Bay, situated between the Indian and the Atlantic oceans, had the best potential for wine-making. He called his estate Constantia. It became known for excellent wine. Van der Stel died at Constantia in 1712. As none of his family remained at the Cape, Constantia was divided into thirds and sold. Hendrik Cloete, the great-grandson of an early German settler, bought the original homestead in 1778. He built a fine wine cellar and planted thousands of new vines, mostly Frontignac, Pontac, red and white Muscadel and Steen. Grapes were ripened on the vines until they were almost like raisins and sweet. Slow maturation in vats took place before the wine was shipped to Europe and England.
Cloete had nine sons, six of whom became wine-makers. Hendrik Junior inherited Constantia in in 1778. Constantia had become neglected, but he farmed it from 1800 until his death in 1818. His son, Jacob Pieter (born 1794) inherited Groot Constantia, and Johan Gerhard (born 1796) inherited the upper portion of the farm, known as Klein Constantia. Jacob Pieter, who spoke French, hired an agent in Paris where his wines won several medals.
King Louis Philippe sent emissaries from France to fetch the wine, Napoleon drank it on the island of St Helena, Frederick the Great and Bismarck ordered it. In England the Prime Minister - who had sampled it at Downing Street - made sure that consignments from the Cape were delivered to Buckingham Palace for the King. In Edwin Drood, Charles Dickens tells of "...the support embodied in a glass of Constantia and a home-made biscuit". The German poet Klopstock devoted an ode to the pleasures of this wine. Baudelaire mentions it in his Les Fleurs du mal.Johan Gerhard sold the farm in 1840 to Abraham Brunt, a nephew of Leonora Colyn.
In the late 19th century, the Cape vineyards were devastated by the phylloxera epidemic, and production stopped. Groot Constantia was sold to the Cape Government. Production only resumed in 1980 at Klein Constantia, and in 2003 at Groot Constantia Wine Estate. It was released in 1990. When the Jooste family bought the property in 1980, they were approached by Professor Chris Orffera, a Stellenbosch Univeristy viticulturist (now deceased), who asked them to recreate the historical sweet wine. This was achieved with his help and that of the late Ross Gower. The sweet wine is made from Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains (Muscat de Frontignan) grapes grown in Constantia, Cape Town.
