WINE CELLAR director and fine wine ‘addict’ Roland Peens drew attention to this marvel with a tweet. A unique bottle of sweet Constantia, vintage 1835, in a 750ml bottle on which the design of the current 500ml version from Klein Constantia is based, with a tarred label and “lightly dirty” capsule, from the private cellar of Château de Saint Aignan and, at the time of writing, on sale from French retailer Clos des Mellesimes in France for €89 000, or R1.4m! More about the old dessert wine here, with Clos de Mellesimes also punting more recent vintages, and the Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 2015 selling for R1095 a bottle, ex-cellar.

Since being introduced in 1986, Vin de Constance has consistently rated among the world’s top wines – a shoo-in for the Top Wine SA Hall of Fame. And these days those with a sweet tooth and a penchant for things historical can choose from two modern-day expressions of what famous kings and queens, authors and poets of yesteryear yearned for, coveted even – the Grand Constance from Groot Constantia now also getting rave reviews in various quarters, the bottle also designed along the lines of the original, and at over R700 per 375ml bottle, the price of the Groot about the same as that of the Klein.