Glenelly Lady May 2016
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Suckling
James -
Spirits
Wine & -
Parker
Robert
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Lady May is Glenelly’s flagship Estate wine. Elegant and complex, the wine develops flavors of cassis, blackcurrant, dark cherry, touch of graphite and delicate spicy plum. Fresh and vibrant, the evolution of the wine introduces flavors specific to Glenelly’s terroir . Deeply colored and perfectly balanced, the wine displays an exquisite structure with velvety tannins and a very good ageing capacity.
Blend: 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of ripe black fruit, tomato leaf, walnut, spice box and dried orange peel. Full-bodied and chewy with dry, chalky tannins and a velvety texture. Nutty and savory on the mid-palate with a lingering finish. A blend of 80% cabernet sauvignon, 8% merlot, 6% cabernet franc and 6% petit verdot.
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Wine & Spirits
This wine grows at an east-facing vineyard on the Glenelly estate. A blend of cabernet sauvignon with small amounts of other Bordeaux varieties, it’s firing on all cylinders at the moment. Aromas of green herbs lead into blueberry, ripe-cherry and cherry-pit flavors. The fruit comes together with snappy tannins and currant-tinged acidity, creating a powerful, silky wine, fruit-forward but not fruit-first.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
While both bottles I sampled had a run on the cork, the nose and palate still offered a sincere expression. The 2016 Lady May provides a green, herbal edge with elegant notes of brown baking spices that lift the dark red and black fruit essences. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is still tight, with elements of bitter black tea and dark chocolate followed by a soft notion of blackberry skin and dark plum on the mid-palate. While this is still a touch too young to consume at present, it will undoubtedly drink better in the next couple of years with additional bottle age and should drink gracefully until its 15th birthday.
Rating: 91+
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Located on the southern slopes of the Simonsberg, Glenelly is owned by May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, Bordeaux doyenne and former owner of Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. Struck by the tremendous potential of South Africa's terroir and the beauty of the country, Mme de Lencquesaing decided to embark on a French adventure on African soil. She purchased Glenelly in 2003, and subsequently planted 66 of the property's 128 hectares to vineyards. The first estate-grown fruit came on line in 2007, and Glenelly's state-of-the-art winery building was completed in 2009. The wines are fermented naturally and made with as little intervention as possible, seeking to achieve the perfect balance of French style and South African terroir.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
South Africa’s most famous wine-producing district, Stellenbosch, surrounds the historic town with the same name; fine winemaking here dates back to the late 1600s. Its valleys of granite, sandstone and alluvial loam soils between the towering blue-grey mountains of Stellenbosch, Simonsberg and Helderberg have the capacity to produce beautiful wines from many varieties. The climate is warm Mediterranean, tempered by the cool Atlantic air of nearby False Bay.
Perhaps most well-known for its Pinotage and Bordeaux blends, Stellenbosch also produces noteworthy wines from Syrah, Chenin blanc, Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc. The district’s wards—Banghoek, Bottelary, Devon Valley, Jonkershoek Valley, Papegaaiberg, Polkadraai Hills and Simonsberg-Stellenbosch—all produce distinctive wines from vines with relatively low yields.