Basalt Wines bagged nine medals at the James Halliday Wine Companion Awards.

Owners Shane and Ali Clancey were delighted with the haul, and said their hard work over the past 16 years had paid off.

"We put up a mix of nine white and red wines (for judging)," Mr Clancey said.

"We were awarded one bronze, six silver and two gold. We are absolutely stoked.

"We took a punt 16 years ago when we planted the vines and scratched our heads and thought about what would work in the windy old Warrnambool, Port Fairy and Killarney area."

He said he took a gamble on making Tempranillo, a Spanish grape variety, with the 2017 drop taking out a gold medal and scoring 95 points out 100.

The 2016 variety won a silver medal on 94 points.

The 2018 pinot gris won a gold medal on 95 points while the 2017 variety received silver on 92.

Both the 2017 and 2018 Riesling gained a silver medal, scoring 94 points.

The 2017 chardonnay was awarded silver on 90 points, the 2016 pinot noir silver on 90 and the 2017 pinot noir bronze on 88.

He said it was great to receive recognition for his family's toil, sacrifice and foresight to "find a spot on the Great Ocean Road which was once an old spud paddock" and turn it into a prosperous business.

The popular venue has recently undergone a makeover, with a new 40-seat restaurant constructed.

"Rain, hail or shine it's a great location," he said.

It includes views across to the vineyard and Mr Clancey said the winery was gearing up for a busy summer period.

Basalt also leases a vineyard at Drumborg to grow grapes before the final product is made in Geelong.

"The vineyard at Drumborg doubled our capacity but what that meant was that I didn't have the space at Killarney to do the wine-making," he said.

"A good mate of mine in Geelong set up a winery so we do all the processing there which enabled us to expand here with a new restaurant and kitchen."