A wine honouring the spirit and legacy of Australian shiraz pioneer George Wyndham was the big winner at this year’s Limestone Coast Wine Show.

The 2016 George Wyndham ‘I Am George’ Shiraz Cabernet won the Bill Redman Trophy for Best Wine of Show at Thursday night’s sell-out presentation feast in Naracoorte, after earlier winning Best Blended Red and the David Wynn Trophy for Best Red Wine of Show.

Chief judge Samantha Connew proclaimed ‘I Am George’ “a seductive wine”. “There was just another level of complexity in this blend which earned it the top gong – lots of juicy, primary, bright berry fruit but with some structure and tannin to give it complexity and length,” she said.

It was a triple trophy treat for DiGiorgio Family Wines after dominating the white classes.

The 2017 DiGiorgio Family Wines Coonawarra Chardonnay won the Trophy for Best Chardonnay, and collected the Colin Kidd Trophy for Best White of Show.

Judge Julian Langworthy praised the wine’s poise and complexity: “There’s great white wines in the Limestone Coast and this is a really complex and exciting wine to come from Coonawarra,” he said.

Meanwhile, the 2018 DiGiorgio Family Wines Kongorong Riesling won the Karl Seppelt Trophy for Best White (excluding Chardonnay).

Leconfield Wines took home two trophies for the second year in a row; the NV Leconfield Syn Rouge won Best Sparkling Wine and the 2018 Leconfield Coonawarra Rose claimed Best Rose.

St Hugo also had a double haul, with the 2015 St Hugo Vetus Purum Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon named Best Individual Vineyard Wine, and the 2010 vintage of the same wine winning the Ewen Fergusson McBain Trophy for Best Museum Wine.

The highly anticipated Provenance Trophies, which provide a platform for exhibitors to enter three vintages of the same wine, went to Raidis Estate’s ‘The Kid’ Riesling (2018, 2010, 2008) and a trio of Wynns Coonawarra Estate Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon (2015, 2010, 2005).

The 2015 Jacaranda Ridge Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon won the H.R. (Ron) Haselgrove Trophy for Best Cabernet Sauvignon, with cabernet also capturing the attention of New Zealand judge, Sam Kim, who gave the International Judges’ Award to the 2016 Black Wattle Vineyards Mt Benson Cabernet Sauvignon.

“It had that amazing fruit purity and intensity without being overblown,” he said. “Beautifully composed, seamless with terrific length – the complete package for me.”

The Chief of Judges Wine to Watch was the 2017 Norfolk Rise Estate Shiraz, with Samantha Connew dubbing it “a really modern interpretation of Australian Shiraz with beautiful slurpy fruit.”

Rounding out the trophy winners, the 2016 Petaluma Merlot won the Peter Wehl Trophy for Best Merlot, the 2016 Berrigan Shiraz won the Eric Brand Trophy for Best Shiraz, the 2018 Bellwether Ant Series Wrattonbully Barbera won the Small Batch and Experimental Wines Award, and the 2018 Penley Estate Spring Release Cab Franc was the Best Alternative Red Variety.

Orlando Wines was named most successful exhibitor.