It is the seventh time the iconic Noble One dessert wine has won the highly coveted award. The Botrytis Semillon, known for its sweet, full-bodied flavour and golden hue, is one of the world’s most awarded wines, winning more than 138 trophies and 425 gold medals since it was first produced almost 35 years ago, reinforcing Australia’s reputation as a premium dessert wine producer.

Noble One 2013, which marks the wine’s 30^th vintage, also recently won the Sweet Wine Trophy at the Brisbane Wine Show, bringing its individual trophy tally to six since it was released in 2015.

The world-wide success of Noble One has been particularly special for the De Bortoli family.

Inspired by his father Deen, Darren De Bortoli began the Noble One experiment in 1982 to prove that luxuriously sweet and hugely expensive French Sauternes-style dessert wines could be made under Australia’s much harsher climatic conditions.

Like Deen, Darren believed the conditions at the De Bortoli Bilbul Estate vineyard were ideal for sweet wine production. In 1982, when drought conditions broke and there was excellent, uniform botrytis rot and a surplus of Semillion grapes, Darren set about making a wine in the style of Sauternes from Bordeaux.

Thirty four years later, Noble One is one of the most commercially successful dessert wines made from botrytis-infected grapes in Australia.

“The season started out quite hot and dry, but rains at the end of February and March enabled the botrytis to weave its magic through the vineyard, enriching the grapes with the botrytis flavours to create a rich, yet balanced, opulent wine, De Bortoli Wines senior winemaker Julie Mortlock said.

“We harvest each vineyard when the botrytis and sweetness levels are in harmony, which is what allows us to capture the different layers and nuances that are the hallmark of Noble One wines.”