Tasted September 2008

Whilst doing my research on this wine I learnt that this winery, Balnaves, was recognised this year by James Halliday as the 'Winery of the Year' in his 2008 Guide! Impressive hey? So what's the lowdown...well Coonawarra is the area, it's situated in the South East of South Australia and is a cool climate region. Its reputation has been developed with wines grown on a unique strip of red 'terra rossa' soil (see pic) which is approximately 16 kilometres long and 2 kilometres wide.

Grapes: 85.7% Cabernet Sauvignon 14.3% Merlot

Region: Coonawarra, Australia

Soil Type: The predominant soil type is a clay based terra rossa which overlays calcareous limestone.

Winemaking: Small fermenters are used enabling the winemaker (Pete Bissell) to select and ferment a number of small lots separately. This gives him numerous blending components which results in more complex/multi layered wines.

ABV: 14.5%

Tasting Note
This is a new wine for us, I hadn't tasted it for some time so wasn't sure what to expect. Following Chris's enthusiastic description I'd recommended it to one of our customers (Jo) to have with her Friday night steak, that made me think I ought to give it another go myself. I have to say that I was really impressed, the wine was drinking beautifully. It has real 'fleshiness' on the palate, I know that sounds quite wine geeky but it is the best way of describing the sensation. Lots of cassis, dark berry characters, sweet spice and firm, ripe tannins - perfumed & a positively good drink.

Cellaring
2005 was a hot vintage so this is actually drinking well now, but could definitely cellar for 5 years

If you like this, why not try… Over to Western Australia for some of the Vasse Felix, Cabernet/Merlot