Considered to be one of the most beautiful and iconic wine estates in the world, visiting Klein-Constantia is more akin to a pilgrimage than just another tasting room visit.  This is, after all, home to the famous Vin de Constance, one of the world’s most famous wines, and their old Dutch Cape building, built in 1685, is a temple to Napoleon Bonaparte’s favorite tipple.  For decades, though, many who came to this tasting room had to suffer through obligatory tastes of all of Klein-Constantia’s  at-best-average still wines in order to reach their reward- a sip of the coveted Constance.  But, thankfully, times do change, and since Klein-Constantia, or K-C as it is lovingly called in South Africa, in 2011, fell into the hands of famed Bordeaux winemakers Bruno Prats and Hubert de Bouard de Laforest, this venerable estate’s fortunes have been on a meteoric rise.  Prats was, for 28 years, the CEO and mastermind of the resurrection of Chateau Cos d’Estournel in Saint Estephe, while Bourad de Laforest was the longtime owner of Angelus in Saint Emilion, and currently runs La Fleur de Bouard, one of Pomerol’s hottest properties.  This Bordeaux power duo has spared no expense in upgrading K-C’s Bordeaux-styled Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet-based Estate Red Wine, and those two are now attracting nearly as much attention as the winery’s venerated sweet wine.   My visit there (just before COVID) was focused on these two, although I did treat myself to a sip of the ethereal Vin de Constance too.  I particularly loved the red, and made it a point to bring my memory of this delicious Bordeaux-styled blend back home for you too.  Made from 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Malbec and 19% Petite Verdot, this compact, aromatic red takes advantage of all the attributes that have garnered this property so much attention for the past 350 years.  Situated between 70 and 350 meters altitude in the shadow of Table Mountain and blessed with a constant afternoon sea breeze, temperatures here remain cool, preserving the fruit’s acidity as it ripens under the torrid African sun. With the ocean a mere 10 kilometers away, the wind plays an important factor, desiccating the grapes and increasing their concentration and flavor.  The 2018 Red comes from another highly concentrated, drought-affected vintage in Constantia; it’s a ripe wine, but really fresh too, with a lot of fragrance that leans towards black plum with hints of sandalwood, milk chocolate-mocha and the barest pinch of dried sage, violets and smoke.  A fine, elegant wine, it definitely leans more towards Pomerol than St. Estephe in its litheness, its immediate drinkability and sense of effortless finesse.  I brought a bottle of the red back to my lodgings near Cape Town to go with some pasta we were cooking but, once opened, it disappeared almost immediately.  My Pinot Noir-loving wife said ‘now here’s a Cab I can actually get behind,’ while my host, a longtime collector of South African wines who remembers only the bad old days of still wine at K-C, said he would immediately adopt it has his house red.  You should try some yourself……it’s food-friendly, lovely to drink on its own, age-able and a very good deal besides.  The bad news?  Getting Klein-Constantia these days is very tough and I grabbed the only 5 six-bottles cases they had available.  And, yes, if it’s the Vin de Constance you seek, there might be a little of that to share too.  Inquire.