Christophe Dehosse has recently opened
his Bistro at Glenelly and we were invited for lunch to see what he is doing,
sample the food and taste the Glenelly wines with Cellarmaster Luke
O'Cuinneagain. Glenelly is owned by Lady May-Éliane de Lencquesaing who fell in
love with South Africa on a visit and subsequently bought the farm. She wanted
to start from scratch and aims to make the best wines the land can produce,
using only grapes grown on Glenelly. She was previously the owner and manager
of the esteemed 2nd growth Wine estate Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
in Pauillac in Bordeaux, which was sold in 2004 to Louis Roederer. She trained
in Oenology at the age of 35. She is now 91 and amazing for her age. She is one
of our icons
Some canapés:
Really well made salmon trout gravadlax, tiny cornichon, a duck liver mousse,
some Parma ham and some savoury cannelés of Bordeaux topped with olive pesto
(these are made with a batter enriched with rum and vanilla. They also appeared
later as dessert, soaked in syrup)
The Glenelly tasting room
The front
of the bar is made from beautiful grey granite taken from the farm. It is soon
to be in-filled with black granite to make it more visible.
Mike Bampfield
Duggan of Wine Concepts talking to Luke. The tasting room has wonderful views
of Ida's Valley
The amusing
Glenelly logo depicts owner Lady May-Éliane de Lencquesaing astride a rhino,
clutching one of the most precious glasses from her extensive and valuable
collection. This will soon be on display in the Glass Collection museum on the
farm. Arthur explained that the rider depicts elegance and moving forward with
balance. The glass is rare and the rhino is African - Glenelly
Admiring
the view. The farm nestles into the valley which is at the foothills of the
Simonsberg mountains. They are lucky enough to have vines with many different
aspects. And they are beautifully maintained by viticulturist Heinrich Louw
When Lady
May bought the farm, it only grew fruit. Now it has 60 hectares of vines. She
began planting the grapes in 2003 and the first wines were made in 2008
Chatting
with Chef Christophe Dehosse and Arthur de Lencquesaing, one of Lady May's
grandsons, who is now responsible for marketing. His brother Nicolas is
responsible for Sales
We begin
the wine tasting with Luke. We tasted the unoaked 2012 Chardonnay, full of lees
and melons, with long crisp flavours of lime and butter. "It is just
beginning to drink well now," says Luke "and it ages well, as do most
South African white wines". Glenelly are putting more and more wines away
to ages including white wines. They find the Asian markets focus on texture
more than on aromatics. The barrel fermented 2014 Chardonnay which is 100%
malolactic fermented has clean rich golden fruit, a whiff of smoke and a silky
buttery mouth feel with crisp limes and lemons, some warmth and a long ending
of butter
Arthur
talked to us while we tasted the reds. First was the 2014 Glass Collection
Syrah, a spicy deep and rich wine that needs a lot of time for the fruit and
the chalky tannins to soften. The 2014 Merlot has molasses, dark toasted wood,
black cherries on the nose and palate. long cherry flavours, some maraschino
too also needs several years./ The Glass Collection 2014 Cabernet Franc has
nice savoury umami and smoke on the nose, with minerality, perfume and prunes..
Its acids are softer and the long flavours and soft tannins make this accessible. The 2014 Glenelly Cabernet
Sauvignon came next and is classic filled with cassis berries and leaves. On
the palate is has a very good cassis base, long and elegant with chalky
softness and dark toasted end
Then the
2011 Glenelly Reserve - an old school claret in style. It is a blend of 36%
Syrah 34% Cabernet 20% Merlot and 10% Petite Verdot. They used 35% new French
oak. Incense wood, umami and cinnamon with some cooked berries and rhubarb on
the complex ethereal layered nose. Soft fruit on the plate then structure takes
over. Fruit acids and grippy tannins and a very attractive long finish. It is
made to last and be a great wine
Then came
the Lady May 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon. It is so sophisticated with a red velvet
nose with superb cassis, cherries, milk chocolate and coffee mocha wood, some
herbs and green leaves with violets on the end. 85% Cabernet 10% Petite Verdot
5% Merlot.. It begins soft as silk then the inbuilt cheek gripping tannins and
long chalky mouth feel take over, as they should on a wine made to last. Sour
sweet cherries and cassis. This wine has legs and will travel far. "They
are seeking the best expression the wines can show on this farm" says
Arthur
The line up
of wines we tasted
Time for
lunch. The restaurant is below the tasting room and has good outdoor seating
and great views
We had lots
of questions for Arthur
Chef Christophe comes to tell us about lunch - he was giving us a selection of
starters from the menu, so we could try some of the different dishes, a main
course and a selection of desserts.. Lunch was served family style, except for
the main course.
The current
menu. This will change according to seasonal availability of the best produce
Franschhoek
Trout gravadlax with baby beetroot and a sweet dill dressing
Fresh
seasonal white asparagus with a lemon dressing, a tomato, herb and onion salad
and a parmesan crisp
Tuna tartare on a crisp vegetable salad, samphire and a lemon and soya dressing
We loved
the duck and pistachio galantine served with fig chutney, cornichon pickles and
golden buttery toasted brioche, The
starters were accompanied by the two Chardonnays
The main
course was perfectly medium rare fillet steak, baby carrots & fennel, and
mushrooms with a creamy mashed potato and a really good wine jus. Alongside the
fillet was a sweetbread which sadly many did not eat. It is a challenging
ingredient even for us. The main course was accompanied by the Lady May 2008
Reserve - a lovely wine, so suited to food, especially red meat with a good
jus
Then for
the dessert selection. First a warm oozy chocolate biscuit served with wine
poached pears and Chantilly cream. Several people fought over this dessert it
was so good
A cheese
platter for those who prefer a savoury ending to lunch. All artisanal South
African cheeses. Yes that frilly stuff IS cheese, not raw cauliflower, and
rather nice medium soft cheese. The wine served with dessert was the 2010
Shiraz
Cannelé
doused with fynbos honey and accompanied by caramelised pineapple (lovely) and
rooibos tea ice cream (great if you enjoy rooibos). Most people didn't know
what cannelé were, so those of us who did ate them all. They are light and
buttery with a batter consistency and they take syrup on board excellently.
A trio of
really good ice cream and sorbet. The red berry sorbet was simply divine
© John & Lynne
Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016
