Constantia Glen

Constantia Glen is situated on Constantia Main Rd, Constantia, Cape Town, 7806

The Constantia Valley is the oldest and most prestigious wine producing region in the southern hemisphere. This wine region’s unique combination of terroir and climate – with its cool maritime influence by the Atlantic and Indian Oceans – is ideal for producing world-class wines.

Our magnificently appointed wine estate, located on the upper reaches of the Constantiaberg, is one of the jewels of the Constantia Valley. Constantia is at the heart of South African wine making, with a proud winemaking history dating back to 1685, when Simon van der Stel first made wine on his farm called Constantia. After van der Stel’s death in 1712, the Constantia farm was split into three properties known today as Groot Constantia, Klein Constantia and Buitenverwachting.

Our 60 hectares of land – known today as Constantia Glen – would have been far too difficult to farm in the 1700’s. It was most likely used for livestock grazing for the first hundred years of Constantia’s history. Originally called Benydendal, and later Klein Benydendal, in 1813 the farm was registered to its original owner, Johannes Gregorius van Helsdingen, who was the first owner to plant vines on the farm. By 1832, when his nephew, Johannes Frederick, inherited the property, it was a productive farm under 15 000 vines. Not much is known about the 11 years that followed, which saw a rapid succession of ownership until 1843, when Sebastiaan Valentyn van Reenen, a grandson of the famous Dutch VOC merchant family – the Cloete family – bought the farm and renamed it Glen Alpine.