Glenelly Estate

Beautiful tasting room. Not a fan of their wines but it’s a lovely place to escape to

Great estate!

Best. Chardonnay. EVER. Enough said.

WOW, WOW,WOW! Had the most amazing wine, the Grand Vin de Glenelly 2007. Reminded me of a braai with friends and family. Good times.

Love The Glass Collection Cab 2010. Nice aromas of berries and chocolate with soft tannins on the palate with a sweet aftertaste of chocolate as well.

Loved the Lady May 2009!

Beautiful Estate with a stunning tasting room.
I particularly loved the Grand Vin Chard and the Glass Collection Unwooded Chardonnay is a steal at R60.00 per bottle!
I’ll definitely be back for a cellar tour.

What a superb venue, what a superb tasting, what a superb hostess! Crescenda (who holds an MA (Stell) with German as her major) delighted us as she weaved through the wine list, well supplemented with printed tasting notes. I picked up volumes of tannins in the wines I tasted, indicating they are long lasting if you choose to lay them down. My favourite was the Grand Vin, a BDX style with some Shiraz added to ‘the mix’. Would certainly recommend that you visit.

The tasting was given by Crescenda who was an absolute professional in her work. Such a pleasure to have had her talk us through the wines. The actual presentation of the water, glasses, spitoon etc. was beautifully done and I felt initially I was about to sit down to a top class dinner with how it was laid out.
The wines were a bit steep in price but the merlot was the biggest surprise as it was most delicious.
The art gallery and glass collection are also worth a visit.

There is definitely a sense of money and status when walking towards the tasting room However, once you enter you are greeted by such friendly people and service that is also absolutely amazing. This stands for nought if the wines are shocking though! To our delight this was definitely not the case. The wines are amazing!! For me one of the best Merlot’s I have tasted in a long time.
Glenelly is absolutley worth the trip. Go and enjoy!!

Great estate, impecable service, well woth a visit.

Absolutely worth a visit. I agree with my fellow reviewers. The range of available wines will grow over the next years. So far all their wines are of very good quality. There is no doubt that a winery owned by an old french wine-maker family knows how to produce premium wines.

WOW, is all I can say. What a tasting experience (hosted by Crescenda). Her knowledgable and friendly service made our afternoon – she clearly loves her job. Loved the wines and the cellar tour – this is money well spent and a gain to the SA wine scene.

What a place! What a tasting experience! Crescenda tasted all the wines with us, except the still unreleased flagship Lady May, then took us on a guided tour of the glass museum and art gallery before showing us the cellar operations. The place is magnificent, the experience second to none in the SA wine industry.

Never new this place existed, but I’m glad I discovered it! Approaching the 6 stories tasting/cellar/museum building after entering through the main gate, I thought it takes some balls to construct a building like this in the winelands, it is certainly not everyones taste. But I found it somehow blends in to its surroundings and it definitely gives an quite unusual view over the Idas Valley. I heard magnificent things about the gravity flow cellar, but unfortunately I was too late for a tour – definitely next time!

Inside, it seems that owner Madame de Lencquesaing made herself a home away from home. The interior of the tasting room has a modern French country Cafe style, with white wooden furniture and comfy couches. For sunny days, a spacious terrace allows the view over the Stellenbosch mountains. Madame’s second passion after wine is glass, so there is a quite impressive collection of glass sculptures and art in the first floor of the building.

Our hostess, Crescenda, provided us with very knowledgeable, personal service and even took a seat at our table for the tasting, so we had her all to ourselves and could squeeze her out about the wines and the history of the farm – a task which she managed brilliantly.

The wines are all still a bit young for my taste, with very strong not-yet-integrated tannins and astringency, but with beautiful aging potential. In 2007 they first released wines from their own property and got a new winemaker, and I could definitely taste a distinct shift in style – to the better. The 2006 signature shiraz based red blend missed a defined character, with the grapes being bought from neighbouring properties. The 2007 shows a bold fruity spiciness and lots of character. From the so-called “Glass Selection”, the 2008 Cab Sauv stood out for me. Given 2 – 5 years of time to settle, the wines should all be a winner!

It’s definitely a winery to keep on the radar, and with the tasting being free of charge I’ll definitely return more often. The flagship estate wine “Lady May” will be launched in a few weeks, and Cabernet Franc will also soon find its way into their wines. For a very young winery, I’m very impressed and looking forward what they get up to in the future…

@__MrHyde

Electronic doors welcomed us to the air-conditioned and brand-spanking new tasting room … a relief from the scorching summer sun and nestled on a koppie overlooking Stellenzicht(?) – like a once-removed cousin of Waterkloof perhaps.

Our host knew the fact sheet from top to bottom and rehearsed it like a nervous child in primary school at his first classroom presentation. I didn’t get anything he said at first so I spent my time taking in the beautiful surrounds and ‘kitchy’ pieces of art.

The Wine labels were boring and doesn’t go with the modern feel of the building/cellar. To be honest, my eyes will skip over this bottle at a Wine Bar.

Some ‘Masters’ recommended Glenelly and when we started tasting the wines, followed by a tour downstairs, I could see why he cycled past here and make this his pit-stop ….

As I said, things heated up when we went down to the most awesomeness cellar eva. Francois (the host) got some personality and the farm some appeal.

I’m torn here, confused even. The wines were great, the view great, the cellar downstairs awesome, then the host, the kitchness on the ground floor and the label . . . It felt as if there were too many hands trying to mold this pot but hopefully, with time, and some more hands, it will blossom into an estate with concrete appeal .

Madame May Eliane de Lencquesaing se plaas is, net soos haar titel en naam, imposant. Dié plaas getuig van ‘n passie vir die bedryf en wyn. Madame is glo self baie betrokke en skroom nie om haar moue op te rol nie.

Die gravitasiekelder, gebou in 04, is ‘n koel kubus op ‘n warm somersdag en die koue sementvloere verwelkom ons. ‘n Bekwame Francois Kotze vul ons glase en verskaf brokkies oor die plaas en Madame. Ons bewonder die glas-en ander kunswerke wat twee vloere vul asook die twee rye reuse staaltenks wat in gelid staan in die kil kelder. Tussendeur proe ons wyn: 2003 Zebra versnit – baie drinkbaar; die 2004 Glenelly Siraz/ Cab/ Merlot versnit is ‘n sagte wyn; die wenner by uitstek is die 2006 Glenelly – lieflik en defnitief die vier en ‘n halwe sterre werd. Wit wyne is glo die volgende items vir die wynlys.

Hier staan Madame en haar span met hul voete op die aarde – geanker in geloof en beman met passie. Wat ‘n fonds van ‘n plaas – en dit op die drumpel van Stellenbosch!

so this was the next vineyard stop, never knew this place existed so it was a surprise when driving up and finding this massive tasting/cellar area which looked lovely! the inside of the venue was very different to all others I’ve seen having a classic touch to it. the wines
The wines were all up to good standard, with a very interesting notice of a Zebra’s behind on the label, the wine proved well indeed! though the 2006 Shiraz/Cab Sav/Merlot stood out the most for me!
A beautiful vineyard indeed

We bunked lectures on tuesday and decide to go check out the wine estate near our flat. what a grave mistake it was and i Pity the guys from Glenelly beacause there are so close to my flat and tastings are free.
their stunniing tasting centre is housed in a yellow kinda ugly building. whats inside is stunning and really classy. The wines are simply amazing 3 bold rich hearty red wines beauiffuly crafted fantastic. The host Francois was friendly informative and very polite and he let the wines speak for themselves.
i will be back several times