2022 Balnaves of Coonawarra The Tally Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra

Hand picked from the Dead Morris vineyard and co-fermented with 9% petit verdot. Matured for 14 months in 36% new fine-grain Taransaud French oak barriques. A choir of purple-clad gospel singers harmonise through bilberries, blackberries and cherries. There is a swirl of lilac and caraway seed spice that echoes throughout. Acidity is fine tuned to the powdery, silt-like tannins. It's vibrant, with more savoury, sappy richness this vintage than in the past. I can tell you this for free, this is one hell of a memorable wine. Drink now if you need to taste to believe and then put a case away for decades to come [to 2045].

97 points (Special Value) Shanteh Wale for Halliday Wine Companion, June 2025

This classic Cabernet opens with heady aromas of blue and black fruit, lifted sweet floral high notes and a suggestion of aniseed and caraway. It is full-bodied, with powerful fruit flavours flanked by firm but fine tannins. Long, harmonious and traditionally styled Coonawarra Cabernet for extended cellaring.

The firm, powdery tannins and aniseed-caraway spice want something with real density to match — a char-grilled kangaroo fillet with a juniper and blackberry jus mirrors the wine's own dark fruit, while a slow-braised venison ragu with rye and caraway plays straight into the spice note. If you're keeping it simple, a wedge of aged cheddar with quince paste gives the tannins something to grip.

More about this wine

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. Doug Balnaves was a shearer of Merino sheep, and the wine is an expression of this tradition.

The 2022 season was one of moderate conditions that suited Cabernet Sauvignon perfectly. The hand-picked grapes were co-fermented with 9% Petit Verdot. The wine was matured for 14 months in Taransaud oak barriques, 36% of which were new.

About Balnaves

The Balnaves family have been associated with Coonawarra since 1855, with the vineyard at the southern end of the Terra Rossa strip established in 1975. Founders Doug and Annette Balnaves were joined by children Pete and Kirsty in 1990, just in time for their first wines.

Cabernet Sauvignon accounts for 70% of the vineyards, the remaining having been planted to Merlot, Shiraz, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Chardonnay.

Maddie LeMire has been leading the team at the winery from the start of 2025 after Jacinta Jenkins' tenure that followed Pete Bissell’s retirement in 2020. Pete still consults on the wines on a casual basis.