De Bortoli Wines is one of the larger privately owned companies in Australia and is known for its wide range of wines including the sweet white Noble One. Wineries and vineyards De Bortoli Wines owns four wineries in four diverse Australian wine growing regions: Bilbul near Griffith in the Riverina region of New South Wales Near Cessnock in the Hunter Region of New South Wales Dixons Creek near Yarra Glen in the Yarra Valley in Victoria Rutherglen in the Rutherglen wine region in Victoria The company has vineyards in the same regions as its wineries, along with the King Valley in Victoria. Winemaking The winemaking team is overseen by third generation winemaker Darren De Bortoli and his brother-in-law Steve Webber. In the early 1980s, Darren De Bortoli created the Noble One Botrytis Semillon. Steve Webber established the company's premium Yarra Valley winery in the early 1990s and is also responsible for overseeing the company's King Valley vineyards and Hunter Valley winery and vineyards. The company quotes its philosophy as, "great wine begins in the vineyard", and that the winemaker should use minimal handling and interference in the winemaking process. They also state that wine should have a sense of regionality and be an expression of the soil in which it is grown. Noble One De Bortoli Wines Noble One Botrytis Semillon is a sweet white wine, developed by Darren De Bortoli during the 1980s. Since its release, Noble One has been awarded 104 Trophies, 352 Gold medals and 113 International Awards. In 2005 screw cap closures were placed on 50% of the 750ml bottles of 2003 Noble One in a trial that attempted to ensure fruit intensity and freshness for consumers. De Bortoli Wines have kept the 375ml, 50% of the 750ml and all export stock under cork. However, in an industry where issues over cork taint keep arising, approximately 34% of wines are sealed with some type of synthetic closure. Noble One was given its name in 1990 as a result of the bilateral agreement between Australia and the European Economic Community in which Australia agreed to phase out the use of European names on wine labels. Previously the wine was known as 'Sauternes,' but today it is simply called Noble One. History During Darren De Bortoli's years at Roseworthy Agricultural College, Australia's premier winemaking institute, a lot of development work was being done on Botrytis wine styles. While