Pertaringa Undercover Shiraz 2020

This is a serious contender for best value wine of the year. Stunning stuff and criminally under-priced. The name gives a nod to the long history of McLaren Vale supplying top quality fruit to other regions without any recognition – labelling laws have improved that situation. This wine spent eighteen months in a mix of French and American oak, 15% of which were new. Vibrant purple in colour, this is inky, and dense, and full of chocolate notes and all a bit thrilling. There is a plushness here, with cassis, dark chocolate, blackberries, leather and cloves.

Serious concentration, lusciousness and great length, this is powerful but balanced and focused with attractive silky tannins here. Love this – a gorgeous wine. Has a good decade of sensational drinking ahead of it. The intensity of this wine is maintained the entire length. Are there better wines in this collection? Perhaps, but I am not sure that there are any which give the same amount of sheer pleasure. The practice is to always attempt assessing without knowing the price, so I was expecting this to be at least an $80 to $100 bottle. $25? Buy as much as will fit in your cellar.