New world record price paid for Grand Constance – Strauss Auction
RECORDS APLENTY! There were five bottles up for grabs at the Strauss & Co Fine Wine Auction held in Johannesburg on 14 September 2021. All South African wines, ranging from a 34-year-old dessert to one from a barrel first filled in 1800 – some buyers in the room, some bidding online and others phoning through. Never before had anybody paid as much for dry red and sweet wines from the Cape: R80K for Chateau Lib and George Spies Cab, R850K for a small bottle of Grand Constance – more than the R420K paid earlier in the year at the Cape Fine & Rare Wine Auction in Stellenbosch, and that’s before adding VAT and commission. Will we ever know who the buyers were?!
See below for the auction highlights, and for more about these collectables click here.
Chateau Libertas 1957
R91 040 paid for 1×750ml bottle
Blend of Cinsaut and Cabernet Sauvignon made by Stellenbosch Farmers Winery (now Distell). From the Winshaw La Gratitude Cellar in Stellenbosch.
GS Cabernet 1966
R91 040 paid for 1×750ml bottle
Somewhat mysterious wine, an experiment by Monis winemaker George Spies, supposedly using Durbanville grapes. Thought to be no more than 24 bottles in existence. From the Distell Tabernacle in Stellenbosch.
Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 1987
R34 140 paid for 1×500ml bottle: R51 210 per 750ml
Sweet Muscat, a re-creation of the legendary Constantia Wyn made in the 18th and 19th centuries. The second vintage of Vin de Constance and the first to be commercially released. Private seller.
Jaubert Muscat d’Alexandrie ‘1800’
R91 040 paid for 1×275ml bottle: R248 290 per 750ml
From a 115L barrel of fortified Muscat dating back to the year 1800, a sweet, non-vintage solera-style wine topped up with Muscat every few years. From the Joubert Tradauw cellar outside Barrydale in the Klein Karoo.
Grand Constance 1821
R967 300 paid for 1×375ml: R1.935m per 750ml
From Simonsig Wine Estate – a bottle cellared by Frans Malan after it was purchased on auction in London in 1983. By 1821, Constantia Wyn was arguably at the height of its fame, universally known “to soften the temper of ministers, and to sweeten the lips of royalty itself” – Groot Constantia. Quite a bit of the 1821 harvest had been reserved for the exclusive enjoyment of Napoleon, however after his death that year a supply of the wine re-entered the market. Unlike the bottle sold at the 2021 Cape Fine & Rare Wine Auction which had been recorked, on this occasion the wine was sold in its original state.
∗ Above prices include buyer’s premium and VAT.
As to what most influenced the record price paid for Grand Constance… Age and brand (maybe not branding), but everybody knows that Grand Constance was made at Groot Constantia so surely that had something to do with it?
As to why the bottles of Grand Constance are different, even though from the same vintage… All the bottles were unique. According to Groot Constantia: “In the old days, bottles were continuously recycled. The one selected for the [Strauss & Co] auction seems to have been produced using the rudimentary free-blown process, which was used until the mid-1800s.”