Winemaker Notes
85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Petit Verdot,5% Merlot
This estate wine is named after Glenelly owner May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, Bordeaux doyenne and former owner of Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a bold and powerful yet layered and nuanced wine, with hints of green peppercorn, tobacco leaf, cigar box and leather that add depth and interest to the cassis and brambly blackberry core. The gripping palate offers structured, mouthcoating tannins that are framed by ample acidity and ripe black berry tones. Notes of spicy black licorice and espresso unfold on the long finish. It's delicious now, but this will age beautifully through 2020.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2011 Lady May is based on 85% Cabernet Sauvignon that is ahead for 24 months in new French oak. It has a very pure bouquet with backward, blackberry and cedar scents merging with peppermint with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannins, more masculine than the Grand Vin de Glennelly witih graphite and cedar towards the oaky finish. It will need several year to fully absorb the oak. I appreciate here the saline finish that lingers in the mouth.
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James Suckling
Black prunes and balsamic vinegar on the nose. Fresh at front then powerful tannins and ripeness comes through at the end. Full body. Pretty balance. Well done.
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Wine & Spirits
Clean and precise, this cabernet has a small-berry ripeness, like choke cherries that managed to get sweet. The structure is tight, holding floral notes hard against the tannins, even as the wine is smooth. For grilled steak. Cape Classics, NY
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Wine Spectator
This has density and energy, with savory and tobacco notes adding lift to the dark currant, blackberry and black cherry fruit core. Exhibits cassis bush and singed mesquite hints on the finish. Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot.
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.