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Originally released as a Semillon Sauterne in 1982, De Bortoli Noble One Semillon was one of the first Australian celebrity wines of the 1980s. One of a wave of ultra-fine Australian wines it captured the imagination of a generation of wine drinkers and collectors. The success of this wine is even more extraordinary when you consider its relatively humble regional provenance and the sentiment at the time.
In 1984 wine critics and wine judges were lionizing cool climate wines (some with pitiful alcohol levels) so elegantly structured that they could be described today as under ripe. The Barossa Valley was considered completely passé and the vine pull scheme (which in truth rid Australia of some poor standard vineyards – but unfortunately some good ones too) was in full swing. Cabernet was at the tip of everyone’s tongue and Shiraz was only good if it came from marginal vineyard sites.
This was hardly the environment for the successful introduction of a sweet dessert wine from the relatively unrecognized inland New South Wales wine district of the Riverina (Australia’s largest wine growing area). The 1982 De Bortoli Semillon Sauternes caught wine commentators and judges completely by surprise. At first it was thought to be a freak wine. The sheer quality and definition of the wine was so unlikely, especially from such a hot climate. Twenty-one years later, De Bortoli Noble One is considered the finest of all Australian dessert wine styles with an envious show track record and an excellent cellaring history. It is the only classified dessert wine in Langton’s Classification of Australian Wine.
The beginnings of De Bortoli Noble One encapsulate the mood of the emerging Australian wine industry – a combination of youthful enthusiasm, a certain degree of naivety and tremendous faith in new technology and ideas. Looking back it is intriguing to think of Chateau d’Yquem buying ten cases of the first vintage to see what the fuss was all about. The fuss, however, began at Roseworthy Agricultural College (Australia’s premier winemaking institution and now a part of the University of Adelaide) with a bottle of 1975 Chateau Coutet brought to a wine tasting by fellow student Jim Whittle. It was one of those defining moments. It inspired Darren de Bortoli to learn more about botrytis style wines.
He was in the right place. The oenology department at Roseworthy Agricultural College was at the forefront of sweet botrytis white wine making research in Australia. De Bortoli’s family, however, was based in the Riverina – a market gardening region established by returned Australian soldiers from the World War 1 and later by Italian immigrants. Darren’s grandfather Vittorio established the De Bortoli wine business in 1928. Its initial success was based on the support of fellow Italian immigrants, mostly labourers who travelled between the cane fields of Queensland and the orchards of the Riverina each season. The business had grown on a reputation of good value/quality plonk. The Riverina was an unlikely place for an ultra-fine Australian wine. However, Deen de Bortoli was open-minded to his son’s enthusiasm for botrytis wines. Darren de Bortoli said, “Dad was really supportive. I showed him a bottle of the now legendary 1958 McWilliam’s Pedro Ximenez Dessert Wine and he was pretty impressed. This was the first Australian wine acknowledged as having been affected with botrytis cinerea. I also told him about the high humidity levels in the Riverina during autumn – they were generally not understood at the time.”
In 1981 Darren De Bortoli made his first trial botrytis style wine at home using Pedro Ximenez. By 1982 the region was suffering economic hardship – many growers were leaving their fruit on the vines. When some of the growers heard about De Bortoli bringing in rotten grapes they were ‘aghast’, but started bringing around their fruit, not quite believing their luck. De Bortoli remembers the ‘smorgasbord’ of botrytis-affected crop available in 1982.
The Riverina district is particularly susceptible to natural infections of botrytis cinerea – also known as noble rot – a mould that, given the right conditions, will grow on grapes. As the mould grows, hyphae (filaments) shrivel the fruit, concentrating the juice, increasing viscosity and imparting new flavour characteristics. The spores need approximately 10 hours of humidity to start infecting the grapes. The Semillon grapes are these days entirely sourced from De Bortoli's own vineyards near Yenda and Bilbul. The vines are planted on medium to heavy clay loams and the vineyards managed to ensure a high level of humidity between the vines to promote botrytis. The best vineyards for this style of wine are located on heavier clay soils, usually in ‘sinks’ where fogs congregate. In particularly wet years vineyards on sandy soils seem to perform better. The fruit is crushed and pressed to release the highly viscous and sweet juice. Each parcel is kept separate. After settling the wine is fermented with specially selected yeasts. Fermentation is stopped at a desirable level of sweetness and alcohol balance. The wine is then matured in tightly grained French oak puncheons (Seguin Moreau) for approximately 12 months to add further dimension to the style. It is then matured in bottle for a further 12 months before release. The wine usually has a very high level of volatile acidity generated by struggling yeasts in a highly sugared must. But it is a part of the style and balanced out by plenty of fruit aromas and concentration. Production levels depend on vintage but are usually between 2000 and 4000 dozen cases a year.
2002
Medium pale yellow. Very clear and intense apricot/honeydew melon aromas with some honey/new oak nuances. The palate is tight and concentrated with deep-set apricot/lime flavours, some savoury grilled nut characters, balanced by very high-pitched acidity. Still very adolescent. 88+/100 points
2001
Medium deep, slightly advanced colour. Ripe peach/nectarine/ginger snap aromas with some complex brassy/mushroomy characters. Supple rich palate with peachy/nectarine flavours, superb concentration, fine mineral acidity, finishing long and drying. Lovely – but earlier drinking style. 94/100 points
2000
Medium deep colour. Not as developed as the 2001. Pure honeycomb aromas with touch of waxy complexity. This is richer than the 2001 and highly viscous, with honeycomb flavours, tremendous concentration and fine linear acidity. 90/100 points
1999
Medium deep colour. Intense, beautifully defined barley water/honeyed aromas. Elegantly structured style with barley water/honey flavours, some lemony acidity finishing sweet and tangy. Lovely wine. 93/100 points
1998
Deep colour. Apricot/malty aromas with some honeyed characters showing some development with milk chocolate nuances. The palate is richly concentrated with complex honey/nutty fruit flavours and tangy acidity. Excellent flavour length. 91/100 points
1997
Deep colour. Caramel/sweet honeyed aromas with some barley water characters and underlying new oak. The wine seems odd in this line up, almost an aberration, with caramel/honey/leafy notes even a touch phenolic. Nice tangy finish. 84/100 points
1996
Deep colour. Rich honeycomb/vanillin aromas with some complex mushroom nuances. Very honeyed viscous wine with plenty of honeycomb/vanilla fruit balanced with savoury complexity and long acidity. 93/100 points
1995
Marked change in colour, deep and brassy. Intense treacle almost rancio-like aromas with some tropical fruit nuances. The palate is deeply set and concentrated with rich treacle/raisin fruit, plenty of viscosity, underpinned by long tangy acidity and plenty of flavour length. 89/100 points
1994
Deep colour. Complex lemon curd/crème brulee aromas. Palate is richly proportioned with apricot/crème brulee flavours, plentiful vanilla oak characters and high pitched almost steely acidity. Finishes long and flavoursome. 92/100 points
1993
Deep amber colour. Almond essence/sweet floral jasmine aromas. Richly flavoured palate with almond/floral almost tea-leafy flavours reminiscent of Australian Tokay. Finishes sweet and tangy. 89/100 points
1992
Deep colour. Sweet and sour wine with lime/toffee aromas and flavours. The palate is thick and concentrated with some lively acidity but seems rather ordinary in this company. 84/100 points
1991
Deep colour. Lime/lemon curd aromas with some floral notes and touches of honeycomb. The palate is richly concentrated with lime/lemon curd/honey flavours matched with quite strong acidity. 87/100 points
1990
Deep red-gold colour. Intense and beautifully aromatic wine, with plenty of almond/honey/apricot notes. Rich well-balanced wine with luscious – almost too luscious – honey/apricot flavours and fine mineral acidity. Plenty of flavour length. 90/100 points
1989
Not Made
1988
Deep red gold colour. Rich chocolatey/honeyed aromas with some coffee characters. A rich and supple but developed wine with chocolate/mocha flavours and some tropical fruit/crème brulee nuances. Finishes long and sweet. 91/100 points
1987
Medium deep colour. Lifted lemon curd/honeyed aromas with some brassy nuances. Well-balanced and concentrated palate with honey/lemon curd flavours and high pitched acidity. Finishes with plenty of flavour length. 89/100 points
1986
Deep colour. Very lifted but pronounced honey/coffee/crème brulee aromas and flavours. Slightly underpowered on the palate, but still quite minerally and flavoursome. Certainly at or near the cusp of optimum age. 85/100 points
1985
Medium colour. Complex wet straw/lime aromas and flavours. Palate is well concentrated but elegantly proportioned with some mushroom notes. Good flavour length. 85/100 points
1984
Medium deep colour. Classical wine with crème brulee/camomile aromas. The palate is rich and deeply concentrated with complex crème brulee/chocolate fruit, fine high pitched acidity and excellent flavour length. 94/100 points
1983
Deep red gold colour. Looks clumsy between these two lovely vintages. Very brassy chocolate aromas with some toasted nuances. The palate is supple and fleshy with chocolate/buttered toast flavours and only underlying acidity. 83/100 points
1982
Deep red gold. Intense honey/toasty aromas with some brassy/raisiny characters. The palate is richly textured and refined with complex almond/honeyed flavours, soft acidity and dry tangy finish. This is a remarkable wine considering this is the first vintage and its age. 95/100 points.
Andrew Caillard MW
Langton’s
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