The Glenelly Estate is in the Idas Valley, located in Stellenbosch, on the southern slopes of the Simonsberg Mountain. Its origins date back to the seventeenth century. In 2003 May de Lencquesaing, seeing great potential in the terroir of the 128 hectares Glenelly farm, decides to invest in this young republic and acquires the estate from the Garlick family.

Internationally considered as a benchmark in climate engineering, Glenelly Estate is a winery that features South Africa's first TABS (Thermally activated building systems) project and sets new standards to the construction industry in terms of innovation and climate engineering.

Engineered application of the most current building science and technology ensures room conditions of 16°C and 75% RH year round. An integrated passive strategy uses passive night time cooling combined with an evaporative cooling tower in winter and air cooled chiller plant in summer.

The successful operation of the project has defined new boundaries for TABS as a technology and has proven it's functionality in harsh South African summer climate. A total area of 3000 m2 is activated by circulating water through the structure of the building. Thermal inertia of the 1600 tonnes of concrete controlled by sophisticated logic plays a significant role in the detailed design.