Good Wine, Good Food & Good Friends

Vittorio De Bortoli grew up on a farm in Castelcucco, in the alpine foothills of Italy's north, where he learned basic winemaking, vegetable growing, and farm machinery repair. [^300^] In 1924, he emigrated to Australia with little more than a few coins in his pocket, leaving his fiancée Giuseppina behind with a promise to send for her once he found a place to settle. [^300^] He landed in Melbourne but chose the newly irrigated Riverina area near Griffith — a landscape of flat plains and red earth utterly different from the hills of Treviso. [^300^]

Vittorio lived beneath a water tank, working at other farms and feeding himself from a veggie patch planted with seeds he'd brought from Italy. [^300^] By 1928, he had saved enough to buy a "fruit salad farm" — 55 acres of mixed fruit trees and grapes. [^297^] That same year, a glut of Shiraz meant farmers were letting grapes rot rather than harvest them. Vittorio collected 15 tonnes of free grapes, built concrete tanks, and began selling wine to local Italians and European workers. [^300^] Word spread to Sydney and Queensland. Demand grew. De Bortoli Wines was born.

Giuseppina arrived in 1929 after four years apart. She had worked as a maid in France, saved her wages, and learned fluent French — a skill that proved invaluable when she bartered English lessons for French winemaking textbooks, which she then translated for Vittorio. [^300^] She managed the books, the business correspondence, and the day-to-day operations. Vittorio called her "bossa" — the boss. Together they built something from nothing, creating a beacon for newly arrived Italian workers who found comfort in the familiar sounds of Italian voices and the smells of home cooking at the Bilbul farm. [^300^]

The second generation — Florrie, Deen, and Eola — all helped in the business, but it was Deen who transformed it. Against his parents' wishes, he left school at 15 to work in the winery, obsessed with machinery and expansion. [^297^] He modernised production, expanded capacity, and introduced new varieties. His greatest achievement was raising four children — Darren, Leanne, Kevin, and Victor — who would become the third generation and push De Bortoli into the premium wine market. [^297^] [^300^]

Darren studied winemaking at Roseworthy and, in 1982, created Noble One — a botrytised Semillon that no one believed could be made successfully in Australia. [^302^] It went on to win 104 trophies, 352 gold medals, and 113 international awards. [^305^] The success of Noble One gave Darren the confidence to push the family towards premium cool-climate wines. After "robust" discussions with his father Deen, the family bought the Yarra Valley Estate in 1987, followed by properties in the King Valley and Hunter Valley. [^302^]

Steve Webber is the winemaker and manager at De Bortoli Yarra Valley — a straight-talking, dynamic, and occasionally rowdy presence who "just fell into" winemaking after his father suggested he give it a try. [^302^] After a year in the cellars at Leo Buring in the Barossa, he completed his studies at Roseworthy in 1982, then gained experience at Leo Buring and Lindemans over the next seven years. [^302^] In 1989, he married Leanne De Bortoli, and the family approached them to head up operations at the newly acquired Yarra Valley winery. [^302^]

Steve and Leanne fell instantly for the region — "the beauty, the climate, the seasons, the proximity to Melbourne." [^302^] They have lived on the estate from the beginning, raising their daughters Kate and Sally (now the fourth generation, with Kate working as a winemaker alongside Steve and Jai Harrop). [^312^] For Steve, the transition was "a steep learning curve" — understanding the seasons, learning about different aspects, experimenting with varieties and clones, all with the goal of making wine with a sense of place. [^302^]

The De Bortoli Yarra Valley philosophy is summed up in Steve's mission statement: "to make wine with character and interest and have some fun doing it." [^302^] This is not corporate winemaking. The family lives on the estate, eats on the back deck, hosts rowdy feasts for friends and colleagues, and treats the winery as an extension of their home. [^302^] Leanne manages the cellar door and the acclaimed Locale restaurant, while also tending a thriving veggie patch and documenting life at the estate on Instagram. [^300^]

The winemaking approach is described as "less is more" — allowing each wine to express the character and flavour of the region without heavy-handed intervention. [^299^] Steve has won Gourmet Traveller Winemaker of the Year (2007) and the Jimmy Watson Trophy (1997), and has been instrumental in reshaping the Melbourne Wine Show. [^302^] His fellow winemakers describe him as "a dynamic person with fantastic vision who is never afraid to put a new idea on the table." [^302^]