The not-to-be-missed Wine of Exile exhibition is open to the public as part of Groot Constantia’s Visitors Route experience until June 21 2019. A selection of historical wine artifacts are on show and visitors are being offered a rare chance to view these relics, which unveil the history of the wine that Napoleon Bonaparte drank while in exile on St Helena Island.
This unique exhibition has been organised to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Napoleon and is a collaboration between the French Embassy in South Africa, Groot Constantia, Iziko Museums of South Africa, the Napoleon Foundation, the Government of St Helena, and the French National Domains of St Helena.
Items from the selected collections that will be on display – among many others – include cut-glass crystal wine goblets and glasses used by Napoleon, wine decanters, wine coolers, a ship decanter, and the memoirs of Napoleons chamberlain that document details of his daily life on St Helena and his love for Constantia wyn.
Napoleon was banished to St Helena, an island located in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. Every month, 30 bottles of Groot Constantia wine would be shipped to the island. Groot Constantia is a centuries-old brand that received international acclaim for it’s superior quality and began to fetch extremely high prices at well-attended auctions in many European cities, with emperors and kings all vying for their share.
As South African’s oldest wine producing farm – in existence for 334 years this year – and a National Monument, Groot Constantia, and the wines produced on the estate, have historic importance and represent the Cape’s rich cultural and wine heritage, as well as occupying an important position in global wine history.
The exhibition is open 7 days a week until June 21 2019 and forms part of the farms’ Visitors Route Experience priced at R105 per person. This experience offers guests the opportunity to enjoy a historical self-guided tour through the Manor House, a guided cellar tour (hosted in the production cellar every hour), and a wine tasting of five Groot Constantia wines in the original Cloete Cellar.
The Napoleon relics are exhibited in the Cloete Cellar and daily operating hours are from 10am to 5pm. Organisers kindly ask guests to request bookings for groups of ten or more people.
For more information visit www.grootconstantia.co.za
Picture: Supplied