Top critic Nick Ryan reveals $19 wine that rivals Australia's best
One bottle on the nation’s most prestigious wine list costs less than a pizza. And it could change everything you know about quality.
Can you get a truly great bottle of wine for under $40? How about under $30? In fact, for as low as $19, you can buy one of the best bottles of wine produced in the country in 2025.
Each year, Nick Ryan’s annual Top 100 Wines list provides a robust and wide-ranging selection of Australia’s greatest wines, and among the blockbuster labels, there remains plenty of value and quality, even at entry-level prices.
This year, Ryan has pulled out the 2022 Balnaves of Coonawarra ‘The Blend’ as one of his picks of the year, and from $19 at the cellar door, it is an absolute steal.
A family-owned winery and vineyard carved into the southeastern corner of South Australia, Balnaves started life as a sheep station and had a long and rich pastoral history before the 1970s saw the family embark on a risky change of direction — into the fickle world of wine.
“My dad didn’t even drink red wine back in those days,” Kirsty Balnaves said of her father Doug Balnaves, now 87.
“He was a shearer, so he had that background. But don’t worry, he managed to overcome his dislike of red wine very successfully.”
When Doug gave up shearing for winemaking, a transformation took place not only of the station but the family in general. They became winemakers.
‘The Blend’ is indeed a blend of the winery’s signature cabernet sauvignon with merlot, petit verdot, and cabernet franc and has been lauded by Ryan as “a bottle of real beauty”.
Its quality, writes Ryan, is “quantifiable and undeniable. Born from brilliantly managed vineyards (and) made with deftness and sensitivity by winemakers who understand intimately what makes Coonawarra special.”
He adds: “It’s yours for less than the price of two schooners.”
The wine is one of 100 profiled in The Australian’s Weekend Magazine, in a list that highlights the nation’s best red, whites, and sparkling wines.
The Drinks Issue also contains a guide to the best craft beers of the year and a list of Australia’s most impressive spirits.
‘The Blend’ is one of several highly affordable wines on this year’s list – others include Leo Buring Eden Valley 2025 Riesling at $20 and Ricca Terra ‘Bullets before Cannonballs’ 2023 Red Blend for $23.
Another star of this year’s list is the Jim Barry Barry & Sons Cabernet Sauvignon 2022, which at $25 provides incredible value for a wine that was shown at the Clare Valley wine show to a very high calibre judging panel.
“This is a seriously good glass of wine for $22. Prices may vary in your local region, but that’s around the ballpark we’re looking at – in other words, cheaper than a pizza,” Ryan said. “Why not buy two?”
For Kirsty Balnaves, ‘The Blend’ represents generations of hard work and love of the land through generations of family.
“It’s a unique business. We all work together every day, have Christmas lunch together, and still love each other,” she said.
In relation to the affordable price of ‘The Blend’, Balnaves said the wine is an access point to the brand.
“We just like to keep over-delivering with our wines,” she said.
“We want people to try ‘The Blend’ and then feel confident exploring more of our range, for example, our sparkling cabernet for Christmas breakfast.
“We also want to make wine feel approachable and take away some of that intimidation and I feel at that price point it’s good value, over delivers, and a good introduction to the wine category.”
Originally published as Top critic Nick Ryan reveals $19 wine that rivals Australia's best
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