2024 Balnaves of Coonawarra Chardonnay, Coonawarra

Year after year, this wine is well worth your time and money. Superb value, it reflects decades of care, attention and accumulated wisdom. Barrel fermented, it undergoes a split fermentation of wild yeast and AWRI 1375 before maturing on lees in 25% new oak for 11 months. Pomelo and icy lemon citrus lead, followed by the soft flesh of nectarine and white peach. A buttery, polenta-like creaminess sits alongside an apple sherbet tang that lifts the acidity. There is precision in the understanding of both fruit and climate, with an assured ability to harness energy while crafting a wine of power and sophistication. Drink to 2033.

95 points (Special Value) Shanteh Wale for Halliday Wine Companion, July 2026

The 2024 Chardonnay from Balnaves opens with a rich array of citrus, stonefruit and pastry shop aromas. The creamy and rounded palate follows the nose with added subtle notes of toasted cedar. A complex medium- to full-bodied Chardonnay of intense flavours, carried by fresh acidity.

The buttery, polenta-like texture and toasted cedar want something with real richness to match: a soft-scrambled egg and brown butter tart, or pan-seared scallops with a corn purée let the wine's creaminess sit alongside rather than compete. Grilled haloumi with a nectarine salsa works really well if you want something lighter and vegetarian.

More about this wine

The 2024 Coonawarra season was cool and dry. The grapes for this wine were whole bunch pressed and barrel fermented, half with indigenous yeasts, and half with a select (AWRI 1375) yeast strain. The wine was matured for eleven months in French oak barrels, a quarter 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.