Wine Advocate (92)

Medium ruby-purple in color, the 2012 The Brother's' Reserve Pinot Noir has an earthy nose, a little muted, with notes of dried leaves, twigs and stems plus a fungi undercurrent over a core of red berries and plums. The light to medium-bodied palate is very fine with lovely herbal notes complimenting the fruit and finishing long and finely textured.

Wine Advocate (93+)

Medium ruby-purple colored, the 2013 The Brother's Reserve Pinot Noir has a slightly sappy, youthfully closed nose with notes of ripe cherries, red plums and pomegranate over hints of roses, lavender and black soil. Firm and tightly wound on the palate with a great foundation of grainy tannins and balanced acid supporting the complex flavors, it finishes long and earthy.

Tim Atkin MW (96)

South Africa's Sweet Wine of the Year 2017.

Decanter (98)

An historical wine, Vin de Constance has been re-established in the last few years as one of the world’s finest sweet wines. Dried Muscat grapes are aged for three years before bottling, in French and Hungarian casks with a touch of acacia wood. Citrus, orange zest, rosewater and spice notes leap out of the glass. The palate has a laser-like focus with massive sweetness perfectly balanced by acidity and a mineral finish. As impressive as Château d’Yquem (and considerably better value).

Tim Atkin MW (98)

Increasingly celebrated as one of the great sweet wines of the world, not just the Cape, Vin de Constance is a delight to taste and review. Slightly drier than the 205 release at 165 grams of sugar, it has more in common with the Loire or Tokaji than it does with Sauternes in terms of freshness and structure.

Matthew Jukes (19.5++)

I am informed by the top man at Klein Constantia that the price will be the same as last year’s superb 2017 and all of the likely candidates in the UK are likely to hold stock. It will require a little effort on Google and you will see that a large number of wine merchants will list 2018 Vin de Constance and while the prices swing around like no other wine I know, at £60 or so, for a half litre, it certainly makes sense to me and when you consider the sheer quality of this vintage, it is a bargain for this celestial experience. Stock is likely to arrive in September 2021, but do feel free to register your interest with your preferred wine merchant now. Vintage reports suggest that the build-up to the 2018 harvest brought the highest summer rainfall of the last six years and, combined with some of the coldest night-time temperatures on record, the vines were granted a very long and very slow growing season. These conditions have imbued extreme delicacy of perfume and flavour and also staggering concentration and length in this wine. It also means that the 2018 vintage has otherworldly characteristics and I cannot remember a young vintage tasting so refined and demure. Light bunches and tiny Muscat de Frontignan berries underline just how unusual this vintage was and with a harvest that was a fortnight later than average and crops down by about 15% all of these facts make sense when you taste this ethereal wine. Aged for three years in a combination of 50% new French oak barrels, a small number of acacia barrels, as well as large format foudres, this is both a sensual and also sensitive wine. For a start, the colour is incredibly pale – think a young Sancerre! But the viscosity is amazing when you pour a glass because the liquid moves ever so slightly slower and more deliberately into the glass. The lights come on and the brain fires up immediately and it takes you by surprise just how quickly your olfactory system senses that you are in the presence of greatness. I was in a state of heightened anticipation, long before I raised the glass to my lips and the reward is exquisite. The perfume and palate combine in an astral haze of delight with orange blossom, fig, lemon verbena, wild honey and acacia notes caressing your senses. The texture is super-smooth, incredibly long and unnervingly gentle. It certainly possesses the longest finish I can remember on a Vin de Constance and I have, very fortunately, a tasted huge number of vintages of this wine. If you have never tasted this wine before, please start with this vintage – it will blow your mind. If you have and you are a fan, this is a critical purchase for your collection. I cannot wait to add this wine to my cellar later in the year.

Decanter (98)

Butterscotch, lemon patisserie and peach aromas. Pristine quality to the texture, lively and thrilling, this is a serious, opulent and powerful wine, more on the spiced, nuanced side with aspects of dried herbs, wood scents and bitter lemon and orange with a touch of honeyed lychee. It feels supremely complex and characterful. Sophisticated, layered and balanced with some minerality, a slight graphite edge all of which adds to the whole. It's still extremely youthful but there is real sculpting here, a sense of precision, style and freshness. Well crafted with an extremely long life ahead. A wonder, and one of the best from the estate!

Decanter (96)

A complex bouquet of toasty white-fleshed fruits, some hints of botrytis and kerosene. There's still a honeysuckle, apple and peach quality which is integrated into the body of the wine. Synergies from bottle development frames the bouquet with an exotic spice, seductive perfume and fruits, and there's an umami quality from bottle age that works so well. The acidity alone will keep this going for several years yet. An exemplar of an aged wine that showcases both producer and variety, as well as the potential for Riesling to age and develop.

James Suckling (94)

Lots of flint and stone aromas with lemons and green apples. Medium-bodied with a tight and linear palate and a long, flavorful finish. Very intense. Drink now. Screw cap.

Wine Advocate (96)

In vintages with ample botrytis, an Encore Riesling is produced. I'd put the 2016 Encore Riesling up against many German beerenauslesen. It's wonderfully sweet and rich (210 grams per liter residual sugar), with pristine apricot and marmalade notes balanced by bright acids. If you want to quibble, it might be too clean and precise, but the balance is superb and the finish lasts into next week. Wow!

James Suckling (97)

A perfumed nose of cherries, raspberries, dark chocolate, earth, orange rind, violets and sweet spices. Full body with lively acidity. Rather chewy tannins. Bright and crunchy with a fleshy texture. Balanced and layered with a long, precise finish. Better after 2023. Screw cap

James Suckling (96)

Lots of ripe strawberries with some citrus and cream. Some meat, too. It’s medium-to full-bodied with round, ripe tannins and a delicious, juicy finish. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

Raymond Chan (19)

Deep ruby-red, lighter on the rim. The bouquet shows good energy and vibrancy, with penetrating aromas of dark cherries, tamarillo and cranberries entwined with smoky earth, mushroom and thyme, and an amalgam of spice with a cinnamon core. Medium-bodied, violet interlaced with dark cherries, cranberries and tamarillo formed an elegant core, unfolding thyme, cinnamon, nutmeg, mushroom and savoury, smoky elements. The wine has a complex range of flavours, bound by integrated acidity and lingers with precision. Fine-grained tannin extraction left a powdery, opulent mouthfeel and structure. This refined yet powerful Pinot Noir shows a range of ripe fruit, spice and floral details structured by fine-grained tannins for years to come. Match with wild boar and lamb racks over the next 10+ years. Only produced in exceptional years, best barrel selections from oldest ungrated vines in the vineyard. Fermented with 40% whole bunches approx, the rest destemmed, cold soaked for a week and fermented naturally to 13% alc, post ferment maceration for up to a week, aged in French oak barriques for 14 months, 40% new oak.