The wine also won the best wine by quality and top gold medal fortified dessert wine awards. It sells at $120 a 375ml bottle atgralyn.com.au and the Wilyabrup cellar door.

With 400 wines, Australia was the top entrant followed by Italy, Spain, Portugal and France and its wines triumphed in the LWC best in variety judging, winning four of the eight awards.

The $40 Ross Hill 2019 Pinnacle Chardonnay from central west NSW's Orange area was the best chardonnay. The $55 Gibson 2019 Barossa Valley Reserve Shiraz was the best shiraz. The best cabernet sauvignon was the $28 Moss Brothers 2019 Moses Rock Cabernet Sauvignon from Western Australia's Margaret River. The best pinot noir was the $80 Levantine Hill Estate 2019 Yarra Valley Pinot Noir.

The champion Gralyn Artizan Rare Muscat, which is reviewed below, comes from the four-hectare Wilyabrup vineyard of Annette and Scott Baxter.

The Gralyn story began with Annette's parents Graham and Merilyn Hutton. Graham, a Capel dairy farmer, bought the 200-hectare bush site in 1968, planning just to run cattle. The success of wines from the neighbouring Cullen, Moss Wood and Vasse Felix vineyards, however, saw the Huttons establish Gralyn vineyard in 1973.

They produce their first wine in 1975 and in 1978 began making the barrel-matured aged fortifieds that now, under the custodianship of Annette and husband Scott Baxter, have won international acclaim and a host of other show awards.

The Ross Hill 2019 Pinnacle Chardonnay Comes from a brand founded in 1994 by Sydney chemical engineer-come-union leader Peter Robson and his Orange-born wife Terri and now run by their son James and his wife Chrissy.

James, a former jackaroo and Ridges Resorts manager, says the chardonnay award from one of the world's leading wine shows was "a coming of age for the Orange wine region". The wine is available at the Orange cellar door and rosshillwines.com.au.

From the northern Barossa vines of former Penfolds senior viticulturist Rob Gibson, the LWC star Gibson 2019 Reserve Shiraz can be bought at the Light Pass cellar door and gibsonwines.com.au. Run by Rob, his wife Anne and son Adam, Gibson Wines has 12 hectares of vines at Light Pass and in Eden Valley Region.

MARGARET River isn't renowned for fortifieds, but the Gralyn Artizan Rare Muscat is superb. With 18% alcohol, it glows deep amber, entices with fruitcake and butterscotch scents and has rich pecan pie front-palate flavour. Quince, lychee, spice and nutty oak meld on the middle and the finish is sweet with gunmetal acid underlays.

PRICE: $120 (375ml).

DRINK WITH: cheesecake.

AGEING: 12 years.

RATING: 6 stars (out of 6)

A QUINTESSENTIAL Barossa red, this Gibson 2019 Reserve Barossa Shiraz has 14.5% alcohol, deep purple hues and intense cassis aromas. The front palate displays powerful, ripe blackcurrant flavour, the middle palate Maraschino cherry, spice, spearmint and savoury oak and the finish has chalky tannins.

PRICE: $55.

DRINK WITH: Grilled eye fillet of beef with mustard bearnaise.

AGEING: 10 years.

RATING: 5 stars

CRAFTED by Luke Steele the year he became winemaker at Ross Hill, this lovely Ross Hill 2019 Pinnacle Orange Chardonnay is straw hued, passionfruit and almond-scented and with elegant nectarine front-palate flavour. The middle palate shows pear, melon, flint and cashew oak characters and a finish of slatey acid.

PRICE: $40.

DRINK WITH: grilled kingfish and Asian greens.

AGEING: seven years.

RATING: 5.5 stars

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