Constantia Glen FIVE 2020
£32.95 incl. VAT
29 in stock
Constantia Glen FIVE 2020
5* 96/100 Platter
97/100 Platinum Decanter Awards
94/100 Tim Atkins
IWSC 96 – Best in category – Red Blend
92/100 Wine Spectator
COLOUR
Youthful in colour with a dark, deep red core unwinding into a bright and lively garnet rim.
NOSE
Dark and brooding aromas of Morello cherries, ripe blackcurrant and juicy black plums underpinned by a fragrance of violets and dried herbs. Savoury background notes of cocoa, cedar, and graphite demand further exploration.
PALATE
The palate entry is bold with rich and concentrated with the dark fruit flavours, but the midpalate displays fantastic balance and finesse. This compelling, structured wine is beautifully centred with excellent freshness and depth. The delicious, fine-grain tannins provide mouthcoating texture and excellent persistence and length. The wine comes across as tightly wound in its youth with incredible ageing potential.
HARVEST SUMMARY BY WINEMAKER, JUSTIN VAN WYK
2020 was a remarkable vintage for red grape varieties at Constantia Glen. It was a somewhat
warmer vintage than both the preceding and following vintages, but the quality of fruit was
outstanding. It was a slightly earlier-than-normal vintage in Constantia due to a warm February
that hastened ripening a little. Besides the weather conditions, I for one will never forget the
unique challenges we faced during the 2020 harvest season. On 23 March 2020, in the early
stages of our red wine harvest, our South African President announced that the country would
go into a full lockdown 3 days later to combat the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The
announcement struck panic, as there was initially no dispensation offered for the agricultural
sector. For 3 days we harvested as much Merlot and Cabernet Franc as we could whilst we still
had the labour to do so, but about two-thirds of our estate red wine crop was still hanging on the
vines by the time we went into the hard lock-down on 26 March 2020, including all the
Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot on the estate. On the morning of this first day of the lockdown, a special dispensation was declared allowing the agricultural sector to continue working
to secure the harvest. With “essential service” permits to allow us to continue working, we
completed harvesting the red grapes on the estate, with textbook ripening conditions ensuing all
the way through until we picked the final block of Cabernet Sauvignon on 9 April 2020.
Despite it being an earlier vintage than usual, our vineyards still ripened the grapes optimally
and we achieved fantastic phenolic ripeness, which allowed for confident extraction of tannins
and flavours during vinification. The reds from this vintage are striking and powerful, yet they
posses the typical elegance and finesse that our cool-climate region is known for
