iAfrica Image: supplied Share with your network! Groot Constantia, South Africa’s oldest wine producing Estate – with a history that stretches back 335 years – has announced that they are cracking open their Vintage Vault and making limited quantities of some of the rarest, and best, wines in the country available for purchase. The Vintage Vault at Groot Constantia is housed in underground cement tanks which were originally built in the 1940’s and used to make wine. They were subsequently converted into a storage cellar that offers perfect, consistent temperatures and humidity for storing and ageing wines. Over the years this veritable treasure trove has been stocked with some of the rarest and most prized vinicultural masterpieces in the world. An example includes the Groot Constantia Chardonnay 2013, which won the Best Chardonnay in the World award in 2015, as well as a few precious bottles of the multi-award-winning 2019 Sauvignon Blanc which was named Best in The World at the 2020 International Wine Challenge (IWC). Other exceptionally rare wines that are stored in the Vintage Vault include a bottle of Groot Constantia’s iconic Grand Constance wine produced in 1821 (the oldest bottle stored here), JP Cloete’s Pontac wine, which achieved acclaim at the International Exhibition in Paris in 1855, as well as a few bottles of wine that were originally produced for the Duke of Northumberland.