Three of the Cobargo vineyard’s tipples took home medals from the recent 2012 South Coast Wine Show in Ulladulla, where they competed against the best wineries from the Southern Highlands, Shoalhaven and South Coast.

The awards were for Belgrave Park’s “Hair of the Dog”-labelled Merlot (silver medal), white Shiraz (silver) and Viognier (bronze), all grown and made at the Cobargo property.

It’s the third medal for the Merlot and Belgrave Park’s award tally now stands at 26 in both national and regional wine shows.

Winemaker Warwick Adams said the accolades are testament to the growing respect local wine and food producers are garnering on larger stages.

“It shows we are developing consistency – we are routinely making good wines,” Mr Adams said.

“There are good producers around the place, small like us, which rely on word of mouth.

“There’s us, Mimosa, Tilba and Rocky Hall – we’re all doing something different. We all have a slightly different focus, but we’re getting a good reputation for our wines,” he said.

Mr Adams has a background in IT management and prior to moving to Cobargo, ran a national call centre for Optus.

“There was always the temptation to try something different,” he said.

“And sailing around the world was out of the question,” he added with a laugh.

Mr Adams said his first vines were planted in 2005. His small plot is now producing the seventh vintage of award-winning Merlot, Shiraz and Viognier wines.

Mr Adams also produces a number of other varieties on-site, including the fashionable Spanish styles of Sangiovese and Barbera.

With only 1.2ha of grape vines, Mr Adams said he does all the pruning himself and all of his picking – the next vintage is to be harvested in April - is done by hand.

“The key thing for me is the end-to-end interest,” Mr Adams said.

“We always wanted to be small and deliberately haven’t tried to grow more.

“There’s always the temptation to expand, but (for now) I can focus on quality because I have control over everything.

“I’m enjoying the vineyard, I enjoy the winemaking and there is enjoyment in bottling, but watching people’s reaction when they’re drinking my wines gives me the biggest kick,” he said.

“I’m a great believer in that if you have a good product, priced right, people will come.”

Belgrave Park Winery’s cellar door is open on weekends, on the Princes Hwy just south of Cobargo.