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The Hon. TONY CATANZARITI [10.36 p.m.]: I am saddened to report to the House the passing of Mr Deen De Bortoli on Sunday 26 October 2003. Deen De Bortoli was the patriarch of the De Bortoli family and chairman of one of Australia's largest family-owned wine companies, De Bortoli Wines. He passed away suddenly at his home in Bilbul, in the Riverina region. For more than 50 years of his life, Deen was involved in the wine industry, working side-by-side initially with his family on the winery in Bilbul that his father had built from nothing. Early on, it was naturally assumed that Vittorio and Giuseppina De Bortoli's only son, Deen, would study to be a winemaker. But hard times in the 1950s forced young Deen to leave school at just 15 years of age to help his father, Vittorio, with the family business. Some years later, the opportunity arose for Deen to complete his training as a winemaker and since 1959 Deen increased the capacity of the winery from a crush of 2,000 tonnes to today's crush of 70,000 tonnes, increasing the winery to a size of 110 vats, holding 795,000 gallons.
Under the direction of Deen and his four children, an expansion strategy has seen De Bortoli Wines expand successfully to become one of the countries most successful wineries. Deen oversaw the setting-up of a highly successful winery and restaurant facility in the Yarra Valley, vineyards in the King Valley, distribution and sales branches in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and offices in the United Kingdom, Belgium and the United States of America. De Bortoli wines amazingly now export into more than 52 countries worldwide. When Vittorio passed away in 1979, the winery was left entirely to Deen. Today only Deen's immediate family has any involvement or equity in De Bortoli Wines—and his family is very involved. With Deen's son, Darren, as managing director, his daughter, Leanne, and son-in-law, Steve, running the Yarra Valley winery, his son, Kevin, as viticulturalist managing the vineyards, and youngest son, Victor, handling export, the family business will remain Deen's legacy.
A quiet achiever, Deen did not confine himself to winemaking. He contributed enormously to the wine industry through his work with the MIA Wine Improvement Society, as Chairman of the Riverina Advisory Council of Australia, as a Councillor of the State Branch of Australian Business, with the MIA Sustainable Drainage Committee, as a representative on the Community Water Board, as President of the MIA Winemakers Association and as the Riverina representative for the National Outlook Conference. This is not to suggest that Deen's contributions went unnoticed. Deen was often offered nominations for awards in his field. And while Deen modestly declined many nominations for awards, one that he was particularly proud to receive was the prestigious Graham Gregory Award, in recognition of his contribution to the New South Wales wine industry. Another career highlight for Deen came in 1997 when he won Australia's most coveted wine makers trophy, the Jimmy Watson Award. These were two of the awards that paid tribute to his skills as a winemaker, and both were very much deserved.
De Bortoli's wines will be honoured by these awards for a long time, another example of Deen's lasting influence. This is the seventy-fifth year of the De Bortoli Wine company, and Deen De Bortoli spent a wonderful 2003 celebrating that milestone. It is a shame he will not see his company's 100th year. A requiem mass for Deen De Bortoli will be held on Friday 31 October at the Sacred Heart Church in Griffith at 10.00 a.m. Deen De Bortoli was 67 years old and is survived by his wife, Emeri, their four children and six grandchildren. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him. Vale, Deen De Bortoli.