Halliday Wine Companion 2023

96%

“With 3.6% petit verdot. Left 3 weeks on skins, matured for 18 months in French oak (52% new). Released as a 5yo wine, the Tally has built a reputation over the years as a Coonawarra icon. Concentrated, brooding and dense, this is firmly on the midnight spectrum: by that, I mean blackberries, licorice, mulberries, aniseed, cigar box and graphite. The tannins that shape the affair are fine and omnipresent, and they come with that extra flex of chewy salted licorice. There is so much to masticate on here as the wine lingers through the finish. It is glorious.”

Wine Details

• Region Coonawarra, South Australia
• Vintage 2019
• Type Red Wine
• Variety Cabernet Sauvignon
• Volume 750ml
• Alcohol Volume 14.5%
• PH

  3.45 g/l

• Standard Drinks 8.6
• Acidity

  5.9 g/l

• Closure Cork
• Background

  Among his many pursuits, Doug Balnaves was a shearer of Merino sheep. 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. As an expression of this tradition, the Balnaves family see the wine “The Tally” as the ultimate achievement for their company.

• Vintage Notes

  Vintage 2019 started with good winter rains, a warm Christmas then turned cool and late ripening with the last fruit picked in May.

• Winemaking

  Selectively picked from our Dead Morris vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (96.4%) with a small percentage of Petit Verdot (3.6%), this fruit was harvested on the 9th of April, co-fermented and spent 3 weeks macerating on skins. Maturation was for 18 months in 52% new and seasoned fine grain French barriques. 2019 was an outstanding vintage with dense black fruit.

• Tasting Notes

  Dark red colour with a perfumed nose of blackcurrants, blueberries and blackberries with integrated mocha coffee notes from the oak, intense and harmonious. The palate is dense and bright with black fruits and some complex forest floor aromatics leading to a textured tannin finish.

• Peak Drinking / Cellaring Potential

  Optimum at 10-12 years after vintage.

• Food Matches

  Enjoy with char-grilled scotch fillet aired with broccolini, roasted carrot and crispy hasselback potatoes with a rich red wine jus.