2020 Byron & Harold Cabernet Sauvignon Rose & Thorns Great Southern Australia 750 ml

We’re not sure that any winery, anywhere in the world, has had a more impressive first nine years than Byron & Harold.

Founded by two longtime Australian wine industry vets in 2014, they were named a five-star winery by James Halliday—and one of his Best New Wineries—in just their second year of operation. Halliday is the Robert Parker of Down Under, and a five-star rating in his guide is a coronation. Fortunately, the market hasn’t come close to catching up to the quality coming out of Byron & Harold’s cellar.

It’s hard to find a better place for value than Australia’s Great Southern wine region—something that Paul Byron and Harold Dunning knew quite well. They combined for over 60 years of experience in the Australian wine industry when they started their eponymous label. The decision to focus exclusively on the Great Southern and Margaret River regions was easy.

While Margaret River is Australia’s glamor appellation for ageworthy, Bordeaux-influenced Cabernet, the nearby Great Southern has been quietly proving itself to be one of the great under-the-radar sources for top wines Down Under. The Great Southern shares a similarly mild, maritime Mediterranean climate with Margaret River.

But if there’s a drawback, it’s that the Great Southern is remote, even by Aussie standards. At over 120 miles wide and with long drives between towns, you’re unlikely to hear the nearest cowboy’s sad, sad song. That makes drawing wine tourism and the attention that it brings especially hard—despite the fact that the area “has produced world-class wines for more than 40 years,” in the words of Wine Enthusiast. That relative obscurity keeps prices down, making the wines a perfect value play for in-the-know consumers.