2019 Chalk Hill Wits End Luna Estate Grown Shiraz McLaren Vale 750 ml

Sound the trumpets, this is fantastic Shiraz.

We’re not just talking about a dark-fruited eruption of power and class. We’re talking about one of the best under-$20 values on the market. There’s a level of refinement and pedigree in the 2019 Wits End Luna Shiraz that is extremely rare in wines at this price—a purity and depth of rich fruit with spicy complexity and a polished texture that unfolds on the palate like silk. We can’t get enough of it. 

Since we first tasted the 2019 Luna a few months ago, we’ve reached for it more than any bold red in our arsenals. Matching the intensity and concentration of pricier bottles from Napa and the Southern Rhône with its own fantastic pedigree—vines up to almost 50 years of age planted in McLaren Vale’s legendary black clay soils—the 2019 Luna deserves a place in every cellar.

The 2019 Wits End is a winner when it comes to quality-to-price ratio. But QPR doesn’t begin to tell this story: The wine's smoking jacket style belies its true class and its blue-chip origins. Here, richness is delivered with balance and elegance; a smooth, chocolatey texture sends fine layers of raspberry, black currant, and vanilla all the way through to the lengthy finish. 

This balance of dark-fruited boldness and finesse is classic to the wines of McLaren Vale, the southern Australian region where sixth-generation vintners John and Jock Harvey steward their family estate. 

Heavy black clay soils, where the Harvey family’s old-vine Shiraz is planted, are notoriously difficult to farm and almost impossible to access during wet winter months—often driving vineyard crews to their Wits End (hence the name)—but they also have an irresistible upside. When spring arrives, the soils dry and crack, producing a natural mulching effect that drives vine health and amplifies terroir-driven character. 

Farmed organically, the vines produce deeply concentrated, pristine Shiraz berries that express McLaren Vale, one of Australia’s oldest and best winegrowing regions, in all of its balanced finery. 

The Harvey family planted its first vines in McLaren Vale in 1897 and continues an artisanal approach in the vineyard and cellar today. Winemaker Renae Hirsch used a light but deft touch throughout the winemaking process, blending 97% Shiraz with a sliver of old-vine Barbera for an added streak of mouthwatering acidity, then cellaring the 2019 for fourteen months in oak for polish and a dash of spice. 

We’ve rarely seen this much care and expense spared for a wine in this price range, but the Harveys clearly go the extra mile. It’s what makes this under-$20 showstopper so regal, and why we suggest stocking up.