"Top 100 Wines for 2009. Easy drinking and always attractively scented the Deen De Bortoli 'Vat 4' smells of crushed flowers and mulberry, chocolate, spice and cloves, vanilla, cedarbox and undertones of blueberries. Smooth chocolate slides across the palate as well as mixed ripe berries, espresso and more spice. A great barbecue wine or pair with game in blueberry sauce."
Daenna Van Mulligen, Wine Diva (Canada), November 2009
"Mouth-filling but a bit expensive for very tart Riverland fruit."
Jancis Robinson, www.jancisrobinson.com (UK), July 2009
"Available in British Columbia and displays that clean, fresh, fruit-forward Australian style. It's packed with juicy blackberry-like fruit, accented by notes of vanilla and spice...It's rich and soft enough to sip on its own but also delivers a nice grip of food-friendly acidity."
Beppi Crosariol, Globe and Mail (Canada), January 2009
"This makes a pair of outstanding varietal Deens for De Bortoli. The Vat 4 Petit Verdot has picked up a couple of gold medals (no surprise there) and is a lovely mix of ripe, sweet fruit and savoury dry tannins, of succulent, refreshing flavour and dense, full fruitiness. There's juicy dark berries, substantial tannins on an approachable dry finish that lingers."
Peter Forrestal, Quaff 2009
88 points
"Vivid purple. Musky red and dark berry aromas are complemented by tobacco and espresso. Juicy redcurrant and bitter cherry flavors are pleasingly tangy, with no apparent tannins. Clean berry skin notes linger on a long, juicy, herb-accented finish. Very interesting wine that wouldn't be out of place in a Loire Valley red wine tasting."
Josh Raynolds - Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar, September/October 2008 – Issue 140
"The guys from De Bortoli in the Riverina seem to have a magic touch when it comes to quaffing wines (could it be attention to detail?). You can see the impact of the low yields from the 2006 vintages in a red like this: fresh, clean, lively and juicy, showing dense concentrated dark plum and blackberry flavours and persistent fine, ripe tannins. It''s approachable and delightfully succulent. Two gold medals. The Deen range has never been better."
Peter Forrestal, Best Buy Wines, Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine, 1 November 2008
87 points
"Petit Verdot is one of those grape that's only ever used in a minor key in Bordeaux because it’s such a late ripener but to comes into its own in the warmer climes of vineyards along Australia's Murray River producing, in a wine like this appealing red from the De Bortoli family, smoky aromas and an opulent, concentrated blackcurrant fruitiness with smooth-textured tannins." Anthony Rose , The Wine Gang Reviews (UK), September 2008
"Deep inky wine with a blueberry nose. Powerful oaky lift and a huge, rich, oaky/blackcurrant palate."
Winestate, The Top 40 Best Buys Listing, September/October 2008
"The dual gold-medal-winning 2006 De Bortoli Deen Vat 4 Petit Verdot makes a formidable pair with the equally superb Vat 1 durif. The former is huge on flavour, succulence, and tannin structure, yet immensely drinkable."
Peter Forrestal, Food and Wine, Sunday Times, 13 July 2008
"Australia provides the ideal climate for the Petit Verdot grape; this example from the De Bortoli family combines aromatic expression with delightful fruitiness and mellow tannins."
Anthony Rose, Independent, 12 July 2008
"Great example of variety with its deep inky aromas and powerful, jammy flavours set off by nice tannin structure."
Winestate, The Top 40 Best Buys, 1 June 2008
Agreeable
"Shows pleasant dark berry and licorice aromatics..."
WINEWISE, April 2008
Deen Vat 4 Petit Verdot 2006, January 1970
