Groot Constantia

We went on the Red Bus and hopped off for a wine tasting.

We had a good experience here. I wasn’t a fan of the lining up to pay, get a sticker and then go to the wine tasting section. But the ladies who served us were great. You can see my full review on http://westerncapewineries.blogspot.com/2011/08/groot-constantia.html.

Tip: Don’t go to the tasting room near the entrance. Continue to drive up to the car park for the museum. Walk past the retaurant and when you see the museum go right and there is a tasting room just near Simons (perhaps parking at Simons might be easier). Here you get a much better wine tasting experience!!! I went to this tasting room the second time when we went by the red bus.

WORST TASTING ROOM EXPERIENCE EVER
went here looking forward to the wines, and went to the tasting counter, where some guy in red suspenders told rudely to go stand in the line and buy a ticket like at a fair. so i decide to rather spend my money and time at klein constantia.

The tarnished jewel in the Constantia crown. Whilst your wines are improving in quality, your wine-tasting experience is not. And your arrogance is personified by Lynn Atterbury’s review – whilst she does not identify herself as the manager of the art gallery on the Estate, she spews rudeness on one of your reviewer’s rather than taking honest criticism to heart.

I’ve been here once, and over 3 times to each of the other Constantia wine farms. If you are a large group that just wants to tick off your bucket list visiting a wine farm, this is definitely the place to be. However, if you rather enjoy more intimate and informative tastings, I suggest you go somewhere else. Once you’ve paid your tasting fee, wine is poured into your glass and you are sent to a bench to drink it. Perfect for large groups, as I said.

Update Cellar Tour and Wine tasting prices = R38.00
Wine Tasting only includes a souvenir glass & 5 wines = R33.00

Unfortunately the larger tour bus friendly places suffer from tourist syndrome, much like the V&A waterfront. Service standards drop due to staff not giving a $h1t.

Rather than attacking the complaints and seeding faux compliments to counter the damage, one would suggest the PR people from Groot Constantia would apologise and invite the South African public to come back and give them one more chance to redeem themselves. Then kick their staff back in to shape and service the public.

Boela Gerber the wine maker at Groot Constantia is friendly and helpful and has all the time in the world for the public. (I’ve been to many a wine function and witnessed his public skills). The rest of the Groot Constantia need to clean up their act.

For the unhappy past customers, do yourselves a favour, rather that going to the big hall / art room for the tasting, opt for the cellar tour, it takes 30 mins, but they walk you through the history, story and process. You still get the tasting but are enriched with the estate and don’t have to suffer the lazy useless “bar staff”. (the cellar tour is behind Simons restaurant).

I can only hope Groot Constantia can redeem themselves as they as much part of SA history as they are part of SA wine history.

Dear Lyn Atterbury,

I am not a wine expert, my review was about the actual ‘tasting experience’ at the place, I came there as any ordinary person visiting the estate – I put my reviews on Spit or Swallow, because I am a consumer and wine fan, not an expert. And yes, it was a boring experience for me. It doesn’t take a wine expert to say “We were served with luke warm Blanc de Noir…” – we were served warm white wine for crying out loud.

I am not an art expert and this was not an art review, all I said was “Badly arranged art on the walls” – I said nothing about paintings themselves or the artists. If I took a picture of how badly hung the art was on the walls that day, I don’t think you would have responded the way you did. It doesn’t take an art expert to notice when a frame is hung badly.

I could give you a lesson in online reputation management, but I think I’ll just sit back and watch this PR disaster unfold as you (as a brand representative) have tainted the Rossouw Modern Gallery’s name by associating it with negative words and sentiment that will live online forever.

I leave you with some further reading: http://mashable.com/2011/02/21/negative-brand-sentiment/

Hallo Lyn, I see you’ve read “How to make friends and influence people”. Yet another reason to recommend people to stay far far away from Groot Constantia. You are the personification of all that is wrong with this former jewel in the South African wine landscape’s crown.

I absolutely loved the wine tasting experience at Groot Constantia and to a CERTAIN “Mellissa Chetty” who thinks that she is not only a wine expert but also now an ART EXPERT should shut her mouth about stuff she knows sweet nothing about….. The Rossouw Modern Gallery focuses on aesthetically beautiful and gifted artists works. It has become Josua’s mission to discover new & exciting artists in the southern hemisphere and his efforts and experience of over twenty years are built on the passion of the arts, which has defined him as a person! The artists exhibited at Groot Constantia are of the highest calibre and our clients always leave with, not only paintings but also a life enhancing experience and a greater appreciation of art. So, Melissa Chetty, I say this to you…. “Take your foot out of your mouth because you really are clueless when it comes to wine and ART!!!!!”

Groot Constantia can be a hit-or-miss affair depending on the season, time of day and staffing.

We generally try to go on weekdays outside of tourist season and the convenience and range of wines lures us back, but while I’ve had some wonderful experiences there, the more recent ones have been poor with inattentive staff who seem to dismiss smaller groups of tasters as a burden – hired more for their ability to speak german or french than their passion for wine and people.

In spite of this I’ll probably go again – and just hope we get one of the ‘good ones’…

We visited Groot Constantia as part of a hospitality program on the 3rd of july during the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa. (My sons were lucky, they won a prize). Our visit was in the morning and although I wasn’t really in the mood for wine at that time, I liked it very much. Our hostess was an older lady and she could enthusiastically tell about the history of the winery and the taste of the wines. Groot Constantia is short from Cape Town and for us it was just a good destination. I promised my wife and my sons to visit South Africa another time and for sure we will come back at Groot Constantia. Maybe there are other (or better) wineries, but we found here a lot of history and good wines in a sort distance from Cape Town.

Had a very enjoyable tasting this afternoon. I had the pleasure of two ladies serving me and we had a lovely chat. It was very informative. Thanks for the experience.

Lots of busses full of tourists, but we can only say thank you for the income that they bring into our country. Stunning wines and very friendly staff.

I was not expecting to enjoy Groot Constansia as much as I did, We where told to expect a very touristy place, to just go and take a pick at the parking lot and then drive on, but I think maby because we went on a Tuesday morning things went very well. Everyone was friendly and we enjoyed the experience… even got a glass out of the deal.Dont get that anymore.

It’s just bad, what else could I say – for more details look down to Jan Laubscher’s review. Considering that most ‘bus tourists’ come here for their only wine tasting, they’re getting the completely wrong impression of South African wine. What a shame for the whole industry. Ok, the farm is beautiful, but you can only enjoy their wines if you’re wasted already. With the exception of the Shiraz 2007 – but for more than 100 Rand you’ll get something nicer next door – at Eagle’s Nest for example. It’s time that other wineries in Constantia finally open on a Sunday as alternative for this sorry excuse of a tasting ‘experience’. @__MrHyde

What a boring, impersonal tasting room. Badly arranged art on the walls, and cold atmosphere! The wines are so whatever, the Shiraz not bad though. We were served with luke warm Blanc de Noir…

I don’t think I’ve ever had such a terrible wine tasting experience, the person at the counter just poured our wine and offered us no information whatsoever (he actually didn’t even speak to us, just poured).

Utter crap, don’t waste your time OR MONEY here, not worth it. Jan Laubscher’s review just hit the nail right on the head!

Bobotie and Pinotage at the restaurant…how much more Capetonian can you ask for! I love this place, it is a piece of history less than 20 minutes away from home! Wines are pretty good as well…

Very commercial tasting room.

God only knows why they have such a “reputation”, and he’s not telling…they treat all local visitors with absolute disdain. Surely my R100 is the same colour as any tourist’s? Their wines are mediocre and the tasting experience well…not an experience at all. No friend of mine (local or otherwise) will ever be subjected to this winery again.

On Friday the Madame and myself venture out to the Constantia wine route with the relative new Cape Point Vineyards as our final destination. A combination of irrelevant situations prevented us from an early departure so we left just after 12:00. We were still under the impression that this should be early enough to give Groot Constantia a go, seeing that our last visit, about a year ago, were absolutely appalling to say the least. In this time we’ve been to more then 200 wineries, met Groot Constantia wine maker and educated our palettes extensively. So we thought our new knowledge will help us appreciate this grand wine icon’s tasting experience a bit more. What a big fucking mistake!

Going to Groot Constantia – as a normal wine consumer – is as good as booking yourself into Pollsmoor Prison for a gang rape session. This place’ only mission is to fuck you over. I will never in my life go their again, or at least not until my rectum stops bleeding. It’s a vulgar place where the useless wine staff’s total lack of interest contaminant the wine until it taste like vinegar. With each sip I just wanted to fuck-off and escape from this Groot nightmare. That fact that we had to pay for this experience made me feel like a complete idiot. For R28 you get wine, full stop. What type of wine? Who knows, no one there cared to tell us. They were to busy doing fuck-all. I’ve experience better service from a sampling stand in the Pick n Pay.

When we left I almost had a tear in my eye. If this is our wine icon which showcase our wine industry and present our friendly South African service to thousand of tourists a year, I’m crying with embarrassment. As we drove to our next stop it occurred to me that this experience now influenced my whole perspective of the Constantia route. I wanted to warn all the other wineries in the Constantia area about this gangster that rapes tourist and locals alike, while hiding in sleep clothes made from years of history and heritage. If the Constantia wine route is not careful this Groot shit will drag the whole area down into it’s wicket ways. I do not know if the people at Groot Constantia are under the impression that the general public are fucking idiots and that we do not know when someone rips us off, but I’ve got news from them, we do. I will never go back to this useless institution, never drink their wine (even if every bottle they every make from now onwards get 5 stars from Platter and its cronies) and will make a point to warn ever tourist and South African never to go here again.

But on a lighter point the next farm we visited, after this fiasco, quickly cemented my respect and love for the Constantia route. There are truly amazing gems here, if you can look pass the pile of shit that is Groot Constantia.

Took my girlfriend on a romantic Valentine’s day picnic to the oldest wine farm in the Western Cape, or so they said. The Groot Constantia farm is a wonder to the eye and to the education. Once I knew everything there was to know about how to make wine: strain it, drain it , hide it and cork it, I couldn’t have wished for a drink more sooner. The pinot grapes hit the spot while the Shiraz didn’t meet the hype that is built around it. Still the day was a thing of beauty. The wind in our ears and the Brut done our throats.

As a tourist destination, Groot Constantia is not a bad place to visit and because of this there are bus loads of foreigners there. It is also the only farm in Constantia, that I have visited, where tasting is not free and the tasting staff are rather unfriendly. All of the wines tasted were good, solid quality wines although, were pretty overpriced. If buying on a budget, the Constantia Rood is a bargain…

I have visited the farm 4 times in 5 years, and on EVERY SINGLE occasion I was left speechless by the unprofessional, apathetic and clueless staff and unfriendly tasting room. The supposed jewel in our Constantia crown is decidedly mediocre. The wine attendants sit on chairs behind the counter, chatting away, appearing beyond unprofessional. You have to buy tickets to taste on one side of the room, and take it around to the other. What is this? Do they not have a liquor license? Is it a church bazaar tombola? I cannot imagine how they can make the experience worse if they tried.

I think I must have charmed Groot Constantia tasting room chef ‘Aliston Murray’ but she made this a very interesting tasting experience for me.
At first I found the variety in flavours and aromas in their white wines interesting. Semillon-Sauv, Sauv, Chardonnay.

Great Sauv Blanc but my favorite was an excellent Gouverneurs Semillon with beautiful peachy/stonefruit and complex horseblanket aroma. This made me think about the wonderful spontaneous fermented ‘Geuze/lambic’ beer I love so much back home (http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambic)

So after the whites I told Aliston I ‘wanted to go for the reds’.
She took this literally and – I already surpassed my ’6wine maximum’ – poured out all the reds in stock.
I got a plate with 7 glasses (Rood,Merlot,Shiraz,Pinotage,Cab, Bdx blend & port)
But offcourse I had to taste the MCC first

Took me quite a while to get through all this and my palate wasn’t performing at 100% I guess but it was an interesting experience for me trying to find the different aromas of the wines in this horizontal tasting.
One of the best pinotage I ‘ve tasted since I arrived in SA.

I can imagine it can get ridiculously crowded over here but I was there one hour before closing time on a quiet sundayafternoon. Ideal scenario.

Boela maak ‘n groot verskeidenheid wyn. Die Grand Constance voer mens terug na dié historiese plaas se ryk verlede – soet satyn… Die Sauvignon Blanc is vars en skoon; die Semillon versnit is gemaklik op die tong. En natuurlik is die MCC ‘n regte bederf.

Die plaas besoek ons gereeld vir funksies of kunsuitstallings of stap tussen die wingerde of hou piekniek op die gras. En so gerieflik naby die stad geleë.

For a national icon a tad disappointing. Definitely tour bus territory. Staff quite friendly and knowledgable, bit expensive to taste all the vino. PLUS is they are open after 1pm.

Bit unfriendly and no help from the hosts. Nice affordable wines

they are definitely geared for big groups, still worth it. A stalwart when having to take the visiting family around on a Sunday.
Love their Bouquet Blanc – fruity but dry.

The Groot Constantia Gouverneurs Sauvignon Blanc 2009 is absolutely fantastic. It’s so good, I went back twice for a refill at Caroline’s White Wine & Cap Classic review held at the Western Grand.

Groot Constantia aka “The Circus” it self! With bus loads of foreigners and R22 tasting fee for 5 wines it’s not on the top of my list, but probably understandable seeing that it is the oldest Wine Estate in the Southern Hemisphere ( apparently ). The tasting room was decorated with some great art pieces…….our favorite one was priced at the bargain price of R77 500. The wine was average and nothing to write home about. Although one can appreciate the history it does not give them an excuse to behave like a “Wine Shopping Mall”!

Unfortunately the only Constantia winery open ona Sunday. Tasting was very expensive – you got to keep the glass which I didn’t want. Rose good, whites Ok, reds just about OK. Manor House very interesting and grounds beautiful. Would definitely visit Constantia on a different day in future

Acid white wines with no fruit, reds had nothing to offer.

Premium wines may be better but not on offer for tasting.

Seems geared up for the coach parties so there are better places to go if you have your own wheels

Love the picnics and beautiful settings.

If you are from the East, it`s worth a visit!