Balnaves of Coonawarra is a family-owned winery founded by Doug and Annette Balnaves, who entered the wine industry in the early 1970s after selling their farm and planting their own vineyard on the iconic Coonawarra Terra Rossa strip. Their children, Pete and Kirsty, joined the business in 1990, the same year the first Balnaves wines were released.

Today, the family remains deeply hands-on, crafting consistently high-quality wines from their own cool-climate vineyards. Their focus is on expressing the purity, character, and seasonal nuance of Coonawarra fruit through every bottle.

The 2015 Coonawarra vintage began with solid winter rainfall, followed by a dry spring and early summer. A single significant rain event in January refreshed the vines after the long dry spell. Apart from a brief two-day heat spike around Christmas, the season was marked by generally cool days and very cold nights leading into harvest.

The resulting wines show bright colour, fresh dark-fruit aromas, and lifted perfume. Tannins are fine and refined, giving the wines an elegant, aromatic profile. Similar in character to 2014, but with less prolonged heat, 2015 is considered another strong vintage for Coonawarra.