Glenelly Estate - elegant in Africa

Fine wine, fine art, and a leading lady with big vision and a brave heart

Madame should know better. She understands time, and the passing of it; she knows wine and the making of it. What, then, is this French dame doing harnessing the wild waters of South Africa and getting her hands dirty with Stellenbosch terroir at 86? She's certainly not acting her age.

May de Lencquesaing is conquering a new continent on her way to ninety, it seems, blending grapes and glass, mixing art, wine, romance and reality in complete defiance of colonial constructs of age-appropriate conduct. She's even immortalised the process with a logo of a maiden riding a rhino.

Glenelly in a word

That's Glenelly Estate for you – classic - in the lofty, timeless sense of all things elegant and reverent, and in the informal sense that falls from the love-stained lips of irreverent, young wine lovers discovering something they like. Walking in the foothills of this wine estate, you might feel the same.

From the stately gates up the slopes past the beautifully restored manor house to a Frank Lloyd Wright-style working space, Glenelly Estate cuts a fine profile of a young wine farm cultured with wisdom. Madame has taken many years of wine making experience in Bordeaux, France, adding local experts who share a vision of sustainable modernity and bottling it.

Glenelly Estate wine

That's the other thing about Glenelly Estate and its Madame. True to her French heritage, Glenelly and everything about it is based on refined taste. Some South African wines are still considered heavy and bold. In contrast, Glenelly Estate wines have French finesse.

Luke O’Cuinneagain, the winemaker at Glenelly Estate, mentions a very specific focus to make "fresh and elegant wines. "Unlike most, we don’t just whack them in wood, and let the wood lead the wine." he smiles, and sips.

We're in the main tasting room overlooking slumbering winelands, sipping, taking tasting notes. The Glass Collection Merlot 2009 tastes like a "Black Forest Gateau," while the Glass Collection Shiraz 2009 has "strains of violet, white pepper and cracked spice" which gives the wine an unusually smooth and fresh texture. The Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 has herbal tones, akin to the smell of fynbos on "Table Mountain first thing in the morning". Each of the wines has a very different texture and taste and each cultivar is clearly defined.

The flagship wine and newest wine in the Glenelly range is 'Lady May', a fine Cabernet Sauvignon (aged for 24 months in new French oak barrels) that was awarded five stars in the Platter’s Wine Guide. The sculpture by French artist Maxim Real del Sarte of a 23-year-old May de Lencquesaing, that you see on the linen-like label, was a wedding gift. "This wine is proof that good wine keeps you young" May states on the back of the bottle.

Designing with nature

Knowing there's a better way to blend old and new is key to Glenelly Estate wine. Combining hands-on and state of the art methods, they mix contemporary technology and timeless practices, sometimes importing techniques that O’Cuinneagain learned during his time abroad working at some of the best wineries in France. For example, ripe vine stems are used in the fermentation process to impart freshness to the Glass Collection Shiraz: "Rather than spice, you get violet and jasmine coming through." smiles Luke. Poetry, pure and simple.

Glenelly Estate lies in the Idas Valley, en route from Stellenbosch to Franschhoek on the beginning of the Helshoogte Pass. The vineyards are a heritage site which is revered in Glenelly's holistic approach. The architecture of the main cellar building allows a tiered workflow where the use of gravity in the working warehouse helps to reduce energy consumption – a veritable waterfall of wine. The barrel cellar's unique feature is 15km of embedded pipe work inside the concrete running cold water to regulate core temperature, saving 70 % energy costs and consumption. Water is recycled throughout the estate, and fynbos borders encourage natural balance between the birds and the bees (and the wasps and the ants) in the vineyards.

Nature has a sense of humour, which viticultural consultant Johan Pienaar and production manager Heinrich Louw share. They know that merlot grapes like to have their feet wet and that vines on the east slopes handle summer better with a slow tan. There's an art to fine winemaking, after all.

Madame May’s art of taste

And, unsurprisingly, Madame's tastes go beyond fine wine into fine art. She once had the biggest glass collection in Europe, now her eclectic museum status glassware collection is displayed throughout the winery in Stellenbosch, and includes a piece 300 years older than Jesus and modern pieces from Chicago (May is busy writing a booklet about each glass piece and its history). The cellar and tasting areas show canvas, antique furniture and sculpture cabinets. A vintage wine library as beautiful to behold as it is to appreciate offers rare vertical tastings (the same wine over a number of vintages) which demonstrates a wine's development over time, kind of like a Polaroid for your taste buds.

It's true. Madame is a jet-setting senior citizen, an author and an award winner, a wine estate owner and a whirlwind. No wonder she needs a rhino to bear her brilliance. From a dramatic childhood smuggling food to the persecuted during Nazi occupation, she took up winemaking in her fifties and now spends her time on different continents, proving her post modern point: borders are in your mind (and good wine is around the corner).

Enjoying a wine tasting and walk about at this Stellenbosch estate is for free. Cellar and wine estate tours are possible but it is advisable to book.

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