Groot Constantia Trail #1: Intro & Info
This is the 1st cache of an 11-cache trail which will take you around this beautiful historic vineyard – the oldest in the country, passing by many of its key features along the way. It should be easily doable within 2-3 hours – allowing for cache formalities and photo/rest/refreshment stops.
Entry is free and the estate is open 09:00–17:15 daily. All caches were hidden with the kind permission of the estate management.
To obtain the cache coordinates, click on the image above which will take you to a jigsaw puzzle, completion of which will reveal a message with the coordinates and a helpful hint.
The cache, a small camo-taped tablet pot, is hidden near the large tasting room which is the first building encountered after entering the estate.
The 160 ha Groot Constantia estate is situated at 60-280 m asl on the beautiful Cape Peninsula overlooking False Bay. The 90 ha of vineyards are tucked into a steep valley on the eastern side of Table Mountain. It has a pressing capacity of 650 tonnes.
It receives an average of 1,100 mm rainfall per annum with 78% falling from May to October. 9 different soil types exist on the farm and careful planning is needed to ensure the selection of the most suitable clones of chosen varietals for the specific terroir.
The main varietals grown (70% Red and 30% white) are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Shiraz, Pinotage, Muscat de Frontignan, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Semillon.
Groot Constantia (GC) along with Vergelegen wine estate near Gordon’s Bay are being nominated as World Heritage Sites – see here for comprehensive details of the two estates and the associated proposed integrated conservation management plan.
‘ . . . As the earliest examples of an idealised farmstead established in the late 17th and early 18th century during the onset of globalisation, the Early Cape Farmsteads, with their physical assets relating to the exchange of ideas between various continents relating to agrarian settlement practices, and architectural and landscape design, became the grand set pieces which were later replicated and reinterpreted by other settlers at the Cape.
The development of the Early Cape Farmsteads illustrates the evolution
of human society, land-use and settlement at the Cape over time, shaped by the dramatic natural environment and the interchange between successive economic, cultural and social influences’.
See here and here for short videos on the vineyard.