Merlot, Groot Constantia 2022
Decanter World Wine Awards 95 points, Gold (2025); Silver, International Wine & Spirit Competition 2025
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Why this wine
Cape Merlot usually means soft and simple; this comes off steep, cool, south-facing slopes and spends fifteen months in barrel, a third of them new. Hand-worked vineyards and a long time on the skins give it structure to carry the fruit. A claret-shaped red from the oldest wine estate in South Africa.
At a glance
- Grape
- Merlot
- Region
- Constantia, South Africa
- Alcohol
- 14.00%
- Body
- Medium
- Acidity
- Medium
- Tannins
- Medium
- Sweetness
- Dry
- Drink
- Short (3-5 yrs)
- Pairs with
- Red Meat, Cheese, Rich & Creamy Dishes
How it tastes
Juicy plum fruit with vanilla and a hint of mocha and chocolate from the barrel, and a green capsicum edge behind. Medium-bodied and generous, the tannins fine-grained, the finish long. Merlot 100%.
The producer
Groot Constantia is South Africa's oldest wine estate, founded in 1685 when Cape Governor Simon van der Stel built a farm in the foothills of Table Mountain and named it Constantia; Napoleon, Bismarck and King Louis Philippe of France were among its buyers. The estate covers 165 hectares, 87 of them vines planted between 60 and 280 metres and farmed sustainably under Integrated Production of Wine certification, and this Merlot comes mostly from one block on the steep eastern slopes of Table Mountain, 67 to 95 metres up and facing south to south-east, on deep red clay and loam of granitic origin, with pruning, canopy work and picking all done by hand, biological pest control and winter cover crops. The grapes were picked at 25.5 to 26° Balling, fermented with selected yeasts in temperature-controlled stainless steel with pump-overs every four hours, left two weeks on the skins and put through malolactic conversion, then matured for 15 months in 225-litre French oak barrels, 35% of them new.
Food and drinking
Serve at 16-18°C, with half an hour in a decanter. It goes with roast beef, lamb chops, a mushroom risotto, or mature Cheddar. Drinking now and over the next three to five years. Sealed with a technical cork. Suitable for vegetarians.