DE BORTOLI

FS (Family Selection) De Bortoli Wines is a third generation family wine company established by Vittorio and Giuseppina De Bortoli in 1928. The couple emigrated to Australia from Northern Italy, from mountain villages at the foothills of the Italian Alps, near the historic town of Asolo.

Their son, the energetic and dynamic Deen De Bortoli (b 1936 – d 2003) expanded and consolidated the business created by his parents. Deen's children established De Bortoli's reputation for premium wine including icon dessert wine Noble One and the Yarra Valley wines.

De Bortoli’s winemaking philosophy is that great wine begins in the vineyard. The belief is that sustainable vineyard practices will deliver exceptional fruit quality to the winery as well as real environmental benefits.

The focus is on careful site selection, vine maturity and high input viticulture with a move towards biological farming principles. There is also increasing awareness of the importance of single vineyard wines. In the winery minimal interference, allowing the wine to 'make itself' and the mantra ‘it is harder to do nothing’, encapsulate this belief.

Italian family values passed down from Vittorio remain core values at De Bortoli. There is a culture of hard work, generosity of spirit, and of sharing good food, good wine and good times with family and friends.

Steve Webber is the winemaker/manager at De Bortoli Yarra Valley. In his typically understated fashion, winemaking was something he “just fell into”. After finishing high school his father Ron suggested he give the wine business a try and organised a job for him at Leo Buring winery in the Barossa Valley. After a year in the cellars waxing concrete tanks and learning basic cellar work, he completed his studies in winemaking at Roseworthy in 1982 and gained valuable winemaking experience at Leo Buring and Lindemans over the next 7 years. Lots of terrific wine mentors along the way. In 1989 he married Leanne De Bortoli and the family approached them to head up operations at the family’s newly acquired winery in the Yarra Valley.