Canberra winemaker Nick O'Leary wins NSW Wine of the Year 2015

Canberra winemaker Nick O'Leary has taken out the big trophies for the second year in a row at the NSW Wine Awards - a feat that's never been accomplished before in the event's 19 year history.

O'Leary took home the prize for the NSW Wine of the Year 2015 for his 2014 shiraz.

He won the same award last year for his 2013 Bolaro shiraz, a soft, tightly wound wine with the potential to blossom in later years. He didn't make a Bolaro this year - the grapes were good quality but there just wasn't enough volume and he decided to put the best of them into the shiraz.

"There was just no volume there to put out a reserve wine. And I've always said that the Bolaro would be a wine that's released in a very, very good year," he says.

All up, O'Leary's 2014 shiraz took home three trophies - Best Young Shiraz, Best Dry Red and the Wine of the Year award.

It's a victory born out of difficult circumstances. "2014 was a bittersweet year because we were frosted out, it was a late frost. I lost 60 per cent of my shiraz grapes and [it was] a much smaller year. But from what came out obviously was a high quality product," he says.

But there was one silver lining to the situation.

"There was a lot more free time to go fishing and have a good time," he says with a laugh. "In a way I look back on that year and go, 'Yeah, well that was a nice year to take a little bit of a break after the full-on six years before.' We'd done some big vintages especially '13 where I'd done 100 tonnes in the winery by myself."

It was also bittersweet on a personal level - O'Leary's grandfather has just died, which gives him a bit of perspective. "At the end of the day family is more important than the trophy," he says.

O'Leary almost didn't attend the awards in Sydney on October 30. His wife is away on business and he's looking after their two young kids. Organisers rang him repeatedly but cagily, to insist (without saying why) that he should attend the award ceremony. "I kept saying 'This isn't a good time - I've got kids to look after.'" he recalls. (His in-laws looked after the kids in the end).

He says that any win for his wines is a win for the Canberra district - a sentiment he's repeated often.

"The most important think about making wine in the Canberra district is the people," he says.

"The biggest support is from Canberrans and I really do appreciate that. I wouldn't be able to make these wines and continue improving them if I didn't have the support from the restaurants that buy the wines but also the people who also buy them. It's very humbling, actually."

O'Leary also wants the Canberra district to get the attention he feels it deserves from Sydneysiders and would like to see wineries link with each other, the ACT Government and other industries to push the district as a weekend destination in its own right.