2015 Balnaves of Coonawarra The Blend Australia 750 ml

Coonawarra Crashes the Right-Bank Party

Just last year, we told Wine Access members that for stellar, high-scoring Bordeaux-style reds for under $25, they would be wise to look to Australia.

Now, we admit we were wrong.

We meant under $20.

The 2015 Balnaves The Blend is a Right Bank-style beauty from the most iconic Cabernet producers in South Australia’s Coonawarra Valley, and one that gives the ballyhooed Bordeaux-style reds of Western Australia—wines we have often touted as Napa competitors—a run for their money. The Blend earned a positively stunning 94-point score from James Halliday, Oz’s most trusted and knowledgeable wine critic, who contends that the wine is “defiantly thumbing its nose at Margaret River.” Savvy buyers know that Bordeaux and Napa don’t have a monopoly on Cabernet and Merlot—and that Margaret River doesn’t have those varieties locked up Down Under. This wine—a ruby-purple beauty showing plum, cassis, black cherry, clove, and quintessentially Australian balance—proves it, all at a case-buy price.

Much of the glory of Coonawarra Valley belongs to Mother Nature. Lying over a limestone bed, the region’s thin layer of signature terra rossa soil is well-draining and packed with nutrients and minerals, perfect for the cultivation of exceptional Cabernet. Balnaves is located at the very southern end of the terra rossa strip, where the nearby Southern Ocean provides a refreshing maritime climate that lengthens the growing season, ensuring that grapes are packed with voluptuous fruit concentration when harvest arrives.

The Balnaves family has been producing top-flight Cabernet from Coonawarra’s legendary terroir for nearly three decades. Halliday took notice long before this release: He named Balnaves his 2008 Winery of the Year, and calls it “Coonawarra at its best,” for the family’s  “invariably excellent, often outstanding” wines. No wonder that winemaker Peter Bissel, who has been with Balnaves for two decades, has been similarly honored: He took home 2018 Winemaker of the Year award from the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology.

We’ve said it before: Fans of Bordeaux blends who limit themselves to France and California are missing out big time—the 94-point Balnaves The Blend is proof. Take home a case, and you’ll want to thank us every time you crack a bottle.