Tim Atkin MW: 97 points
“Right up there with the best Stellenbosch Bordeaux-style blends from the exceptional 2017 vintage, this is a distinguished, patrician wine where everything is in place: tannins, acidity, oak and fruit concentration. Marrying Cabernet Sauvignon with 10% Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, it has iodine and mint aromas, red berry and cassis flavours, subtle vanilla spice and impressive underlying structure. A red to cellar. 14.5% abv. 2024-35.”
Review date: March 2024
Greg Sherwood MW: 97 points
“If the 2015 Lady May blockbuster resembles a powerful, dense, Pauillac-styled Cabernet Sauvignon led red blend, then the 2017 is pretty much the antithesis, boasting the most elegant, silky, seamlessly harmonious texture combined with an attractively fragrant, Margaux-esque delicacy and graceful precision. While super youthful, the wine inevitably displays some of the lush, alluring and reassuringly expensive new oak creaminess, boasting layers of warm buttered brown toast smothered in black currant preserve, fresh espresso, hints of mocha dust and delicate vanilla pod spice notes. But probably the most pleasing element about this wine is the way winemaker Luke O’Cuinneagain has absolutely captured the truest essence of the 2017 vintage with its extreme purity, weightless fruit concentration that dances across the palate together with a focused, piercing intensity on the long, luxurious finish. This is class personified and I for one am completely smitten. Drink on release and over 25+ years.’
Review date: March 2022
Decanter: 95 points
“A stellar release of Glenelly's flagship wine, named in honour of the estate's now 98-year-old owner May de Lencquesaing. The classic description of 'iron fist in a velvet glove' is apt here: pure, plush cassis and blood plum with a vanilla new oak veneer, the finesse and detail coming from lively acidity, ironstone minerals and dusty tannins. Intense and impressive. Drinking Window: 2023 - 2040” – Tina Gellie
Review date: August 2023
Falstaff: 95 points
“A legend in the making. Irrigation was the key as it relieved stress conditions. Although the berries and bunches were small and loose, they were a lot of them. It was a game of patience versus stress in the vineyard, but it produced a wine of exceptional quality. Lovely vibrancy from nose to finish, brimming with pure dark fruit wrapped in cedar wood.”
Review date: January 2022
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: 94 points
“The 2017 Lady May is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with splashes of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. The nose opens with a juicy and generously structured frame with oak essences and spiced black fruit elements. Medium to full-bodied, the palate provides sweet oak flavors with a firm tannic edge before melting away to reveal a fine mineral tension and bright acidity. This beauty has plenty of life left in it and will have no problem aging for a couple more decades. Bravo!” –Anthony Mueller
Review date: March 2022