Langton’s Selections Balnaves The Tally Cabernet Sauvignon, Balnaves Cabernet Sauvignon, Balnaves Cabernet Merlot, Balnaves Shiraz Balnaves is one of the most exciting producers in Coonawarra today. Outstanding vineyards and a very strong and skilled team comprising Doug Balnaves and gun winemaker Pete Bissell have resulted in wines of superlative quality and marvellous regional definition. The Balnaves family arrived in the Penola district from Scotland in 1854. Doug Balnaves’ family were originally shopkeepers. His father Ian moved into sheep grazing and Doug took over the management of their farm and began planting grapes in 1975. Doug was vineyard manager of Hungerford Hill’s Coonawarra vineyards from 1971 to 1990.
In 1990 Balnaves released its first wines from its own 120 acre vineyard located at the southern end of Coonawarra. The vineyard, on classic terra rossa country, is a matrix of sub-divisions each block managed according to soil profile, clonal selection and trellis system. The vines are mostly machine pruned and harvested. The fruit is fermented in vinimatics and tonne open-topped static fermenters. Maturation takes place in tightly grained new and used French oak barriques (from various coopers including Seguin Moreau, Saury and Taransaud) and hogsheads for a period of between 18 to 22 months. Balnaves processes about 800 tonnes of fruit, most of it contract grown. Only about 150 tonnes is used for the Balnaves label. Balnaves The Tally Cabernet Sauvignon (cleverly named after the shearer’s ‘tally’) is a superbly crafted emerging ultra-fine wine and on current form has the distinction of being one of Australia’s best Cabernets. It is prevented from inclusion in Langton’s Classification because it doesn’t yet have enough vintages to qualify. It is the ultimate Grand Vin blended from the best parcels of fruit from Balnaves extensive vineyard including Walker block, Dead Morris Vineyard and Rise Vineyard. The wines are barrel fermented and given long maceration ferments. Bissell says, “Coonawarra reds are naturally very refined wines. Those elegant fine tannins seen in our Cabernets and to some extent Shirazes are particularly associated with the local terra rossa and transitional soils. After 10 years, regardless of style, all Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignons show this common thread.” Bissell is the quintessential scientist winemaker yet spiritually connected to his landscape. He knows that science cannot fully answer or unravel the mystery and nuances of making wine. “Coonawarra wines are very discrete with a unique quality and style. To produce the kind of wines I am trying to make, I need to understand the different seasons and the performance of every vineyard block.” Andrew Caillard MW, Langton's