Celebrating the sweetest pursuit: De Bortoli family marks 40th anniversary of its great Noble One

The anniversary is of the first De Bortoli botrytis semillon sweet white dessert wine produced in 1982 and now recognised internationally as one of the great wines of its type.

The company has staged special cellar door Noble One back-vintage tastings, plans a grand celebration in coming months and has released the superb 40th anniversary De Bortoli 2018 Noble One Botrytis Semillon reviewed below.

The botrytis tag signifies the wine comes from grapes infected by the parasitic fungus botrytis cinerea, widely dubbed Noble Rot. Botrytis spoils table wine production but is responsible for the highly prized and priced French sweet wines of Sauternes and Barsac.

Botrytis weakens grape skins, evaporating water content and causing berries to shrivel, creating high sugar concentrations and making luscious dessert wines.

The saga of Noble One and De Bortoli's other botrysis "stickies" began in the 1970s when Deen De Bortoli, the then-chief of Bortoli, became convinced that the Riverina climate had perfect conditions for Noble Rot.

Deen's dream was realised with his Roseworthy College winemaker graduate son Darren in the 1982 vintage when the drought broke and there was uniform botrytis rot and a surplus of semillon grapes.

Darren, now head of De Bortoli, recalls: "It feels only yesterday that Dad and I were asking the local growers to allow their grapes to go rotten.

"They thought we were both mad, yet here we are celebrating 40 years of Noble One and what a journey it has been with only two vintages, 1989 and 2012, being missed - in both cases because of too much rain."

The Noble One marque has won more than 180 wine judging trophies and 505 gold medals and was a Sweet Wine Producer of the Year finalist in the 2021 International Wine and Spirits Competition in London.

Julie Mortlock, the senior winemaker at the De Bortoli Riverina Bilbul Estate, has been working with Darren on Noble One since 2000.

"Noble One is very dependent on Mother Nature, the right humidity at the right time is needed for the botrytis to weave its magic," she says. "The making of Noble One has only been tweaked ever so slightly over the years, like keeping a portion unoaked with a portion matured in barrel to add some fruitfulness and freshness to the blend."

GLOWING amber in the glass and with scents of toffee and pecan pie, this De Bortoli 2018 Noble One Botrytis Semillon has luscious quince front-palate flavour. The middle shows lychee, apricot, treacle and mocha oak and a sweet finish with a gunmetal acid underlay. At shop.debortoli.com.au, cellar doors and bottle shops.

PRICE: $76 (750ml) $38 (375ml).

DRINK WITH: tiramisu.

AGEING: 12 years.

RATING: 5.5 stars

FROM De Bortoli's Yarra Valley arm, this De Bortoli 2019 Windy Peak Chardonnay is brassy hued and crushed almond-scented. The front palate shows ripe peach flavour, the middle palate nashi pear, lemon curd and coconutty oak and slatey acid plays at the finish. It and the Bella Riva are good value at Liquorland and shop.debortoli.com.au.

PRICE: $12.

DRINK WITH: calamari.

AGEING: three years.

RATING: 4 stars

BRIGHT garnet and with 14.5% alcohol, the De Bortoli 2016 Bella Riva Sangiovese is from the King Valley, with the Yarra, Heathcote and Rutherglen, part of the armoury of Steve Webber and wife Leanne De Bortoli. It displays spicy mulberry front-palate flavour, raspberry, briar, mint and savoury oak on the middle and a finish of dusty tannins.

PRICE: $13.

DRINK WITH: tapas.

AGEING: six years.

RATING: 4 stars

IN THE NEWS:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: