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.

Among his many pursuits, Doug Balnaves was a shearer of Merino sheep. A shearer in Australia is paid by the number of sheep he shears. Counted every two hour period, the Tally is recorded in the Tally book. The higher the Tally, the greater the recognition among his peers for skill and hard work. As an expression of this tradition, the Balnaves family see the wine “The Tally” as the ultimate achievement for their company.

Tasting Notes

"As the Reserve, this wine has the right to flex extract, concentration and muscle across some oakier ribs. And yet, Balnaves' finely hewn grape tannins-all pulpy and chewy-along with a proclivity toward refinement over excess, keeps it all in check. Blackcurrant stains the cheeks. A potpourri of herb, licorice straps and vanilla to coffee bean soar along the structural beams. This is a superlative wine of immense oomph, melded with grace." 96 Points - Halliday Wine Companion, Ned Goodwin MW (2021).