Constantia Uitsig
The old Constantia farm where lunch is as famous as the wine — three centuries of vines beneath the mountain, a cool-climate white range, and the reborn Ex Oppido bottlings. Here's what to taste and how to make a day of it.
Some estates you visit for the cellar. This one you visit for the whole afternoon. Constantia Uitsig sits under the mountain in the Constantia valley — the oldest wine ground in the country — and it has spent decades being as famous for its table as for its vines. The name means "Constantia view," and once you've stood in the vineyard and looked up at the ridge, you understand the marketing was just accurate.
Vines have grown on this farm for something close to three centuries. The wine has taken a few turns along the way. What's in the glass now is worth your attention.
The valley in the bottle
Constantia's gift is cold. The valley catches maritime air off False Bay and the vines sit on cool, south-easterly slopes, which is why this small ward makes some of South Africa's most electric white wine. Constantia Uitsig plays to exactly that.
Start with the Sauvignon Blanc. It's the grape the valley is built on — flinty, cool, cut with a mineral edge that warmer parts of the Cape simply can't reach — and it's the truest first taste of where you are. From there the range shows its more serious side.
Constantia doesn't do loud. It does precise. Uitsig's whites are the valley's restraint in a glass.
The old-soul whites
The Chardonnay and the Semillon are where the farm shows its depth. The Chardonnay is cool-climate and restrained — citrus and tension rather than butter and oak. The Semillon is the sleeper: a grape with long history in Constantia, textured and quietly age-worthy, the kind of white that repays a few years' patience and a proper glass. If you want to taste the valley's memory rather than its zip, this is the bottle.
The reborn Ex Oppido range sits alongside the classic Constantia Uitsig label — the Latin roughly meaning "from the town," a nod to the farm's place at the historic heart of the valley. Between the two ranges there's usually a red or white blend and a Cap Classique sparkling to round out a tasting.
Make a day of it
Here's the insider move: don't treat Uitsig as a quick pour-and-go. Its long reputation rests on lingering — the farm has built its name on food and setting as much as wine, so the smart play is to taste, then stay, and let the mountain view do its work over a slow lunch. Come on a weekday if you can; Constantia is a short hop from central Cape Town and the weekends fill with day-trippers working the valley's cluster of cellars.
Because the wine operation has changed hands over the years, it's genuinely worth confirming the current tasting set-up and range before you drive out — check the estate's own site so you know exactly what's pouring.
What to buy
One bottle home? Make it the Sauvignon Blanc — it's the grape Constantia is famous for and the clearest taste of this cold, historic valley. For something with more depth and a longer life, reach for the Semillon, the farm's quiet old soul and the more interesting bottle at any table. And if you're building a case, the Chardonnay rounds out a trio that captures exactly what Constantia does best: cool, precise, unhurried white wine, made where South African wine began.
Common questions
Two things, really. It's one of the historic farms of the Constantia valley — vines have grown here for roughly three centuries — and it's long been as celebrated for its restaurants and country-hotel setting as for its wine. The name means 'Constantia view,' and the view of the mountains from the vineyards is a large part of the appeal.
Yes. Alongside the long-running Constantia Uitsig label, the farm produces the Ex Oppido range, and tastings of both are offered on the estate. The wine operation has changed hands over the years, so it's worth confirming the current line-up and tasting set-up before you visit.
Follow the valley's strengths: cool-climate whites. Sauvignon Blanc is Constantia's calling card, so start there, then move to the Semillon and Chardonnay, which show the more textured, age-worthy side of the farm. There are red and white blends and a Cap Classique sparkling too if you want to range wider.
Glossary
- Constantia
- The Cape's oldest wine ward, on the cool eastern slopes of the Constantiaberg just south of Cape Town — the birthplace of South African wine and historically famous for its sweet Vin de Constance.
- Ex Oppido
- A range produced at Constantia Uitsig; the Latin roughly means 'from the town,' a nod to the estate's place at the historic heart of the valley.