By Olivier Gasselin
Klein Constantia Estate
We are happy to publish a series of extracts from Olivier Gasselin’s wine travels across south Africa. Olivier is currently the Head Sommelier at the Blue Bird in Chelsea.
After almost 3 years of service at Le Pont de la Tour restaurant in central London, I thought the moment was right for me to leave. I was ready for a new challenge, ready to go back to where I first fell in love with wine: the Bluebird in Chelsea. But before jumping to this new and exciting adventure I had one last thing in mind. I wanted me and my wife Sophie to tour the winelands of South Africa.
While I managed, thanks to some professional connections and friendships to organize a healthy and busy two weeks trip to the wine country, Sophie booked us the best guest houses around. We have been overwhelmed by the replies received from our various contacts, their kindness and flexibility, some of which will remain our true friends for the rest of our lives.
South Africa “Nous Voila!!!”
The arrival in Cape Town airport was a frantic one, as the place proved to be very busy. Sophie and I made our way to our car rental company, and after a long wait, we were denied any possibility of a car, owing to our lack of credit card. Rather than making a big fuss, we decided on a calmer approach. We grabbed a cab to our first Guest House (Villa Azure), situated in Camps Bay, a posh and trendy south suburb of Cape Town. The place was immaculate, the owners extremely accommodating and helpful. We felt straight at home, and the stress of the car rental failure was soon forgotten.
After few discreet inquiries the landlady even managed to organize a car rental for us with a local agency. Although it seemed a bit risky but extremely good value, we had nothing to lose and accepted her help. We were pleased to see an old cranky Ford Fiesta making its way to the parking lot early the next morning. It was far from being a Formula One car, or a fancy one, but it did the trick for us. The old Fiesta turned to be our trusty companion throughout the journey. With the car up and running using the left side of the road in the African chaos now seemed even to be a challenge in its own right but after all this is why we came here.
After adapting to the area for a couple of days it was time to leave. We started our Fiesta and carefully drove it to our first appointment. Our destination: Constantia, suburb of Cape Town which surprised us by its dense vegetation and almost tropical feel. We safely arrived to our new guest house, Villa Coloniale then drove straight to catch up with Lowell Jooste, owner of the family-run Constantia Estate. As it was a Sunday we were grateful to Lowell who kindly agreed to break his family day activities to show us around.
Vin de Constance
The estate is breathtaking (see first picture). This is surely one of the most beautiful settings for a winery that one can imagine. Klein Constantia Estate produces diverse types of wines but are mainly concentrating on Sauvignon Blanc, which we found delightful. Their most famous and renowned wine, the Vin de Constance is made from Muscat de Frontignan gapes. The grapes are late harvested and the wine is credibly intense, deep, and luscious but at the same time still fresh and vibrant.
La Colombe Restaurant
After a very agreeable afternoon we were back in the Fiesta navigating towards the Constantia Uitsig Estate. A fancy estate that comprises of a winery, a hotel, a spa and 3 different restaurants. Proud of our origins we chose the French La Colombe and a memorable evening of fine wine and food followed. We drank a bottle of Raats Chenin Blanc 2006 (one of my favourites), and some Rupert & Rothschild Cabernet Sauvignon that worked particularly well with the delicious food. Back to our guest room, we finished our night on the terrace enjoying a Cohiba Siglo II with a glass of local port, and this perfect day closed to an end.
Tags: Argento competition, Olivier Gasselin, sommeliers, south africa, Travel