Krystal Barr of Baw Baw Shire Council presents Rick Lacey with the trophy for the Best Aromatic White for the Purple Hen 2024 Off Dry Riesling.
Caroline Rossetti of Gippsland Funeral Services presents the trophy for Best Shiraz to Dominic Kearton for the Purple Hen 2024 The Rooster Shiraz.
Marcus Satchell accepts the 2025 Westpac Best Wine of Show trophy for the Dirty Three Wines 2024 "Magic Dirt" Pinot Noir from Scott Guerin of Westpac.
Rick Lacey accepts the Most Successful Exhibitor Trophy from Lauren Van Strijp of Bass Coast Shire Council.
Rick Lacey from Purple Hen won the Most Successful Exhibitor at the Gippsland Wine show, with the winery also taking out the award for Best Shiraz and Best Aromatic White.
Dirty Three Pinot Noir won the Best Wine of Show.
In a record medal count, the 2025 show attracted 114 high-calibre entries with a strong focus on the region's famed Pinot Noir and Chardonnay classes.
Rob Lightfoot, Wine Gippsland President, said there was a bumper haul of 55 medals, with an unprecedented seven gold trophies in the varietal classes as testament to the exceptional quality of wines in the region.
The record haul of 18 gold medals overall, 18 silver and 19 bronze, was presented by sponsors at the annual celebration held for 130 guests at Narkoojee Winery, Glengarry North.
The judges described the pinot noir, chardonnay and shiraz classes as particularly exciting.
The prestigious Westpac Best Wine of Show went to Inverloch-based Marcus Satchell and Lisa Sartori's Dirty Three Wines for the Dirty Three 2024 "Magic Dirt" Pinot Noir. This wine earlier won the coveted Best Pinot Noir Top Gold and trophy in a competitive category that produced a record five Gold medals, five Silver and four Bronze from 24 entries.
The seven gold varietal class trophies included:
* Bass River Winery, Glen Forbes, won the Best Sparkling Gold and Trophy for the Bass River 1835 Sparkling Brut 2021.
* Purple Hen Wines, Phillip Island, won Best Shiraz and the Top Gold Trophy with their 2024 The Rooster Shiraz.
* Purple Hen also won Best Aromatic White Trophy with the Purple Hen 2025 Off Dry Riesling.
* Purple Hen won a further Gold with the Purple Hen 2024 Pinot Noir. They won Best Cabernet Sauvignon Varieties and Blends, a tally which earned them the Most Successful Exhibitor.
Dirty Three Wines also won Gold medals for the Dirty Three 2024 "All The Dirts" Chardonnay, and the Dirty Three 2024 "All The Dirts" Pinot Noir.
Showcasing three vintages of the same wine, Dirty Three Wines was awarded the Best Red Wine of Provenance, and also the Best White Wine of Provenance.
The wine producers involved in the awards then turned out in force for the inaugural Eat Drink Play Gippsland Festival at Leongatha, one day later for an incredibly popular event.
For full list of winners and photographs from the awards, see www.winegippsland.com
