CONSTANTIA  , a

district of Cape Colony, in the Cape peninsula, noted for the excellent quality of its wines, the best produced in South Africa . The government wine farm, Groot Constantia, to m . S. of Cape Town, contains over 150,000 vines . This and the adjacent farm of High Constantia are the only farms on which the vines yielding the finest wines flourish . The district is also celebrated for the excellence of the fruit it yields . Groot Constantia House is a good example of the Dutch colonial dwelling-houses of the 17th century . It was built (c . 1684) by the governor Simon van der Stell, and named in honour of his wife Constance . Van der Stell also laid out the vineyard, which soon attained a wide reputation . Old Cape Colony, by Mrs A . F . Trotter (London, 1903), contains a plan and sketches of Groot Constantia .