Lady May

Glenelly Estate’s Head Winemaker Dirk van Zyl Presents a Lady May Mini-Vertical Ahead of the 2020 Vintage Release…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

The Glenelly Estate is a beautiful winery buried in a little corner of the Idas Valley in Stellenbosch. The property was famously bought in 2003 by Madame May de Lencquesaing of Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande fame in Pauillac, Bordeaux, with a vision to transform the property into one of the preeminent fine wine producers in Stellenbosch. With vineyards planted on near virgin granitic rich soils, Glenelly Estate had the opportunity to map out a varietal path that completely suited the style of wines they were looking to make. 

With May Lencquesaing celebrating her 100 birthday in 2025, I thought it would be a good time to pay another visit to the winery. With previous cellar master Luke O’Cuinneagain now settled in at Vergelegen Estate in the Helderberg after taking over from a retiring Andre van Rensberg, the mantle was passed to the talented winemaker Dirk van Zyl to pick up where Luke left off and take the Glenelly Estate into a new decade of premium wine production. Along with the below Lady May mini-vertical, Dirk also kindly let me taste through multiple barrels of the phenomenal quality 2025 vintage to plant the seed for the exciting wines to come.

Glenelly Estate Lady May Vertical:  2017 to 2021

Glenelly Estate Lady May 2017, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5% Abv.

A blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot. The aromatics are incredibly pure and precise with finely integrated notes of herbal spice, graphite, black currant and hints of chocolate and spearmint complexity. The palate is tight and restrained, silky, focused and very tight grained, with incredible fruit concentration, a light touch mineral intensity and a notable harmony. An incredibly accomplished wine still in its shell, that’s hardly evolved in the past two years. One for the cellar!

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Tasting with Dirk van Zyl, Glenelly head winemaker and cellar master.

Glenelly Estate Lady May 2018, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5% Abv. 

“Simply the true essence of Bordeaux in a glass…”

A blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cabernet Franc, 6% Petit Verdot and 3% Merlot. Incredibly restrained aromatics with intense notes of graphite, cedar spice, delicate black currant, sweet black cherry, creme de cassis complexity. So incredibly fine grained texture, pin point focus with a fantastic mineral vein. Fabulous velvety tannins but held in place by a bright steely framing acidity. This is probably one of the most accomplished reds produced in the entire 2018 vintage.

(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Glenelly barrel maturation cellar.

Glenelly Estate Lady May 2019, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5% Abv. 

A blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 10% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot. This shows a more classical Stellenbosch feel with layers of black currant fruits, black fruit, tilled earth, sweet tannery leather and black tea. The palate is sleek, cool, focused, quite muscular but steely and stony, with a notable underlying power and intensity but with polished corners, a creamy velvety chalky tannin grip and a well integrated acid freshness. Tangy and bright on the finish, this is a beautifully focused wine that just needs a few more years in the cellar. 

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Glenelly Estate Lady May 2020, WO Stellenbosch, 14% Abv.

A blend of 59% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. From a relatively warm early vintage yielding ripe, accessible, forward wines that many winemakers feel has been forgotten as the covid year. An intricate wine that offers accessibility with structure, allowing the wine to age for many years. The aromatics are intense and fresh, loaded with creme de cassis, black cherry and blueberry hints, with dried mint leaves, baking herbs, and curry leaf spice complexity. The elegance is very clear and apparent, the silky finesse and accessibility complimented by effortless tannins. This should be good to drink on release but comfortably age worthy for 15-20+ years. (32,000 bottles produced.)

(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Glenelly Estate Lady May 2021, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5% Abv.

A blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 6% Petit Verdot aged for 24 months in 100% new French oak barrels. Dense dark and opaque in the glass with incredibly potent and pure fruited aromatics of creme de cassis, saline black currant, cherry tobacco, grilled herbs and subtle vanilla pod spice nuances. The palate embraces power and density showing fine chalky tannins, a real black and blue fruited intensity with just the most classically restrained, harmonious and elegant finish. This is a phenomenal red wine that registers quality wise in the highest of echelons of Cape Bordeaux Blends.

(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Tasting the 2025 vintage barrels with cellar master Dirk van Zyl.

Other Glenelly Estate Wines tasted:

Glenelly Estate Glass Collection Unoaked Chardonnay 2023, WO Stellenbosch, 12.5% Abv.

Six months on gross lees in stainless steel tank. Shows lovely clarity and purity, earthy waxy citrus, hints of lime peel, peach and grapefruit pulp. Delicious crystalline expression.

(Wine Safari Score: 91+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Glenelly Estate Chardonnay Reserve 2022, WO Stellenbosch, 12.5% Abv.

A portion of the wines was settled in tank but a portion went straight into barrel. 22% new French oak, on the lees in barrel for 10 months. 18% underwent malolactic fermentation. Shows a classy creamy lemon butter character, complex green herbs, fresh fennel, yellow grapefruit and tangy lemon cordial nuances. Very impressive purity and poise with a delightful kiss of passion fruit on the finish. Very nice.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Fermentation cellar at Glenelly

Glenelly Estate Chardonnay Reserve 2023, WO Stellenbosch, 13.1% Abv. 

Six months in barrel of which 12% was new oak. Bottled beginning 2024. Aromaticly lifted with green dried baking herbs, sapidity and hints of white peach. The wine shows a fine texture and a light weight buttery citrus fruit character, with plenty of elegance and a long subtle finish. Fine boned but very classy.

(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Glenelly Estate Le Rose de May Rose 2025, WO Stellenbosch, 12.5% Abv.

Delightfully sappy and fragrant showing strawberry fruit notes with hints of red currant and red cherry fruits. The Syrah lends a linearity, focus and purity with a cool, polish finished. Lovely freshness and a finessed accessibility. Top drawer Rose.

(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The 2021 Lady May will be released in May 2026. The Glenelly wines are imported into the UK and distributed to trade by Seckford Agencies. Contact: pippa@seckfordagencies.co.uk

Glenelly Estate Finally Release their Long-Awaited Lady May 2017 Flagship Bordeaux Blend…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 2 Comments

Glenelly in Stellenbosch is certainly an estate that is starting to really hit its straps after years of producing wines that were always impressive but which you knew had the potential to reach ever greater heights of quality. This all became apparent with the release of the 2015 vintage of the Lady May Bordeaux blend which garnered high praise globally as well as an impressive 96+/100 point score on the Fine Wine Safari.

Only mid last year, Glenelly announced the appointment of ex-Saxenburg Estate Dirk van Zyl as their new head winemaker, succeeding the talented Luke O’Cuinneagain who moved to Vergelegen earlier in the year to replace the retiring Andre Van Rensberg. While Dirk obviously did not make the 2017 wine, he has the good fortune to prevail over the launch proceedings of this masterpiece and I hooked up with him in Johannesburg recently for the Lady May 2017 industry launch tasting at Marble Restaurant. (Recommended retail price is £42.99 per bottle for the UK market.)

Tasting Lady May 2017 with Dirk van Zyl.

Glenelly Estate Lady May 2017, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5 Abv.

90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot

If the 2015 Lady May resembled a powerful, dense, Pauillac-styled Cabernet Sauvignon led red blend, and the 2016 a broader, softer expression from a warm dry vintage, then the 2017 is pretty much the antithesis, boasting the most elegant, silky, seamlessly harmonious texture combined with an attractively fragrant, Margaux-esque delicacy, an understated density and graceful precision. While super youthful, the wine inevitably displays some of the lush, alluring and reassuringly expensive new oak creaminess, boasting layers of warm buttered brown toast smothered in black currant preserve, fresh espresso, hints of mocha dust and delicate vanilla pod spice notes. But probably the most pleasing element about this wine is the way ex-winemaker Luke O’Cuinneagain captured the truest essence of the 2017 vintage with its extreme purity, weightless fruit concentration that dances across the palate together with a focused, piercing intensity on the long, silky, luxurious finish. This is class personified and I for one am completely smitten. Drink on release and over 25+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Glenelly Estate Establish the Lady May Cape Bordeaux Blend As One of South Africa’s True Icon Reds – Reviewing the 2016 and 2017 Releases…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 1 Comment

In some of the biggest wine industry news of the year, it was recently announced that winemaker Luke O’Cuinneagain would be leaving the Glenelly Estate to replace the retiring Andre Van Rensburg at Vergelegen Wine Estate. Luke will take up his appointment around September 2022 this year, following in the footsteps of another legendary giant of the Cape wine industry, André van Rensburg (1998-2022) and Martin Meinert (1989-1998).

But Luke O’Cuinneagain, who has been winemaker at Glenelly Estate in Ida’s Valley, Stellenbosch, since 2008, and previously worked for Rustenburg Estate for five years, leaves Glenelly in rude health having recently presided over the release of three of their greatest wines to date: Lady May 2015, 2016 and the soon to be released 2017 Cape Bordeaux red blend.

Luke tasting with Neal Martin from Vinous Media in London recently.

With both estates reaching new heights of quality recently, thanks to extensive virus free replantings at Vergelegen together with maturing vineyards at Glenelly, the future looks very exciting for both wineries, especially when you consider that Luke recons the Lady May 2018, 2019 and 2020, all still in the estate’s cellars, should be better wines than either of the 2015, 2016 or 2017 blends. Of course, only time will tell, but in the meantime, the 2017 Lady May is certainly a creation to behold! Make room in your cellars for this one!

Glenelly are big fans of benchmarking their wines against the very best producers in the world.

Glenelly Estate Lady May 2016, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5% Abv.

80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot, 6% Cabernet Franc.

The 2016 blend throws a particularly dark, opaque red/black colour in the glass. Dark and foreboding but also ever so inviting at the same time. The aromatics are quite defined with perhaps the Cabernet Franc component currently punching way above its weight of 6% with seductive notes of freshly shaved cedar lead pencil spice, graphite, iron filings, iodine and the now hallmark Lady May character of dark, black, menthol cassis and peppermint crisp milk chocolate nuances. The palate is wonderfully suave and sleek, creamy and mouth coating with an accessibility and generosity of black and blueberry fruits that is very comforting and familiar. But just when you think the mouthfeel is all about silky tannins and fleshy black fruit concentration, the delicious tangy acids kick in to land this Hercules of a wine cleanly and effortlessly on the runway without even a hiccup. Like so many 2016 super-premium Cape Bordeaux blends from Stellenbosch, this wine thrills, seduces the senses and certainly impresses for the vintage. Drink from release or cellar for 10 to 15 years.

(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Glenelly Estate Lady May 2017, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5 Abv.

90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot.

If the 2015 Lady May blockbuster resembles a powerful, dense, Pauillac-styled Cabernet Sauvignon led red blend, then the 2017 is pretty much the antithesis, boasting the most elegant, silky, seamlessly harmonious texture combined with an attractively fragrant, Margaux-esque delicacy and graceful precision. While super youthful, the wine inevitably displays some of the lush, alluring and reassuringly expensive new oak creaminess, boasting layers of warm buttered brown toast smothered in black currant preserve, fresh espresso, hints of mocha dust and delicate vanilla pod spice notes. But probably the most pleasing element about this wine is the way winemaker Luke O’Cuinneagain has absolutely captured the truest essence of the 2017 vintage with its extreme purity, weightless fruit concentration that dances across the palate together with a focused, piercing intensity on the long, luxurious finish. This is class personified and I for one am completely smitten. Drink on release and over 25+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Glenelly Estate wines are available to the trade in the UK through Seckford Wine Agencies. RRP is circa £40 to £45 per bottle.

Glenelly Estate Prepare to Release their Greatest Creation to Date – Tasting the Epic Lady May 2015 Flagship Red Blend…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

The Glenelly Estate is a beautiful winery buried in a little corner of the Idas Valley in Stellenbosch. The property was famously bought in 2003 by Madame May de Lencquesaing of Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande fame in Pauillac, Bordeaux, with a vision to transform the property into one of the preeminent fine wine producers in Stellenbosch.

In February 2020, I visited the estate for a lengthy and informative tutored tasting with Cellar Master Luke O’Cuinneagain. After a final flight of three vintages of their flagship Lady May red blend, tasting the 2010, 2013 and 2014, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try and also taste the as yet unreleased Lady May 2015. It required a few thumb screws and persuasion, but Luke finally obliged with a sneak peak of this fantastic Bordeaux blend from the iconic 2015 vintage.

You can expect a possible release of this iconic wine hopefully towards the end of 2020.

Glenelly Estate Lady May 2015, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5 Abv. 

79% CS, 8% M, 8% PV, 5% CF

Deep, dark and broody, this wine speaks with all the authority and confidence of a 5 star block buster vintage. Brimming with black menthol cassis, boiled black berry sweets, black cherry and tight grained cedar spice, this wine wears a super hero gown of graphite and stony minerality and whispers quality from the moment it hits the glass. Tight, focused and impressively compact, there is a seamless saline black currant balance with linear polished marble tannins and a super intense concentration. This is the culmination of years of winemaking refinement and is without doubt the finest red wine produced to date at the Glenelly Estate revealing the true terroir quality potential of these groomed, premium Stellenbosch vineyards. Drink from Release with decanting and over the next 20+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)