Lady May: A taste of Bordeaux in South Africa

You can understand the mix of excitement and dread going through winemaker Luke O’Cuinneagain’s head when he was told that the ‘benchmark’ for Glenelly Estate’s new Lady May flagship Bordeaux blend was Château Lafite Rothschild 1873.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores from a six-vintage vertical of Lady May

If that weren’t intimidating enough, the person giving him that directive was Lady May herself – May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, owner and managing director of Pauillac second-growth Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande.

In 2003, at the age of 78, De Lencquesaing bought Glenelly Estate in Stellenbosch, believing it the ideal place to realise her vision of creating ‘the finest Cabernet Sauvignon blend outside of France’, as it says on the back label of her Lady May cuvée.

A year later, winemaker O’Cuinneagain was invited to Bordeaux to visit De Lencquesaing to discuss her ‘legacy’.

‘She served me this wine and, I tell you, it was a religious moment,’ recalls O’Cuinneagain. ‘I didn’t know what it was but I knew it was very old and very special. It had such texture, finesse and life.’

That historic 1873 vintage from Château Lafite Rothschild became the benchmark for Glenelly’s flagship red, to be named Lady May in honour of its owner. ‘I was determined to make an equally elegant wine that rewarded patience,’ says O’Cuinneagain.

Vines – predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon – were planted in 2005 atop an east-facing slope, the coolest point of the estate.

‘We don’t aim to copy Bordeaux but we have Bordeaux grapes; it’s our own stylistic interpretation,’ says O’Cuinneagain.

‘Lady May is the expression of what Glenelly can produce in a given year – a clear footprint of the terroir.’

A changeable blend

O’Cuinneagain hadn’t intended the first vintage of Lady May to be 2008 as the vines were only three years old. But ‘I was so excited by the potential of that first crop of fruit!’

In subsequent vintages the proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon has dropped from 91% in 2008 to 69% in 2015. Petit Verdot has also decreased, while the amounts of both Merlot and Cabernet Franc have risen.

‘But in 2017 you’ll see Cabernet Sauvignon come back strongly,’ notes O’Cuinneagain.

‘We play around with the blend every year but the general trend is that Merlot and Cabernet Franc will continue to play a bigger role.

‘Our Merlot is very structured and robust. Both Cabernets tend to be quite fleshy here too, though the Franc has that underlying freshness and vibrancy we love.’

O’Cuinneagain had intended to introduce Cabernet Franc to the Lady May blend from the 2010 vintage. ‘But the young vines, planted in 2007, were damaged by these crazy 100km/hr winds so we didn’t get a crop until 2012.’

Parcels of fruit are vinified separately and then the winemaking team blind tastes each to select the final blend. The wine is then matured for 20 to 24 months in new French oak barrels.

‘We take a middle-of-the-road approach on the barrel toasting – mainly because we have no choice,’ explains O’Cuinneagain.

‘In Bordeaux you have the luxury of ordering your barrels after the wine is vinified, but in the southern hemisphere you have to order them before the grapes have even gone through veraison!’

Lady May: a six-vintage vertical from 2008 to 2015

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