Charles Melton Wines

Coordinates: 34°33′38″S 138°58′06″E / 34.560612°S 138.968275°E / -34.560612; 138.968275

Charles Melton Wines
Location Tanunda, South Australia, Australia
Appellation Barossa Valley (wine)
Founded 1986
Key people Charles Melton
Virginia Weckert
Cases/yr 15,000
Known for Nine Popes
Varietals Grenache, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon
Website http://www.charlesmeltonwines.com.au

Charles Melton Wines is an Australian winery based in Tanunda, within the Barossa Valley wine region of South Australia.

History

90-year-old Grenache vines at Charles Melton Winery

Charles Melton was first introduced to winemaking as a career at Hurlstone Agricultural High School.[1]

Melton worked as a cellar hand at Krondorf Wines between 1974 and 1976, before moving to Saltram Wines to work with Andrew Wigan and Peter Lehmann.[1]

In 1979 Saltram was sold to Seagram and Melton followed Lehmann to work at the newly established Peter Lehmann Wines.[1]

Melton continued work at Peter Lehmann Wines until 1986 when he and his wife Virginia established Charles Melton Wines.[1]

Charles Melton has been credited as "single-handedly reviving the grenache grape in Australia".[2]

On 20 October 2007, Melton was inducted into the "Barons of the Barossa", an organisation that recognises people that have made a significant contribution to the Barossa Valley wine community.[1]

Wines

About 15,000 cases of wine are produced each vintage.[3]

The most well known wine produced by Charles Melton is the Nine Popes. It is a blend of Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre.[4] The first vintage of this wine was produced in 1988,[5] and it was the first GSM blend made in the Barossa Valley.[6] Langton's Classification of Australian Wine placed this wine at the level of "Excellent" in 2000 and "Distinguished" in 2005 and 2010.[7]

A rosé style wine made from Grenache, and named Rose of Virginia after his wife[5] "is regarded as one of Australia's best roses".[8][9]

See Also

List of wineries in the Barossa Valley

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Charles Melton". Barons of the Barossa. 2007-10-20. Retrieved 2011-09-21.
  2. "New York Times - EN ROUTE: Australia; One Superstar Wine Deserves Another". Nytimes.com. 1999-10-13. Retrieved 2011-09-21.
  3. "Australian Wine Companion - Charles Melton". 34.5536730000,138.9530640000: Winecompanion.com.au. Retrieved 2011-09-21.
  4. "Barossa rides again". Independent.co.uk. 1996-02-03. Retrieved 2011-09-21.
  5. 1 2 "Charles Melton". Langtons.com.au. Retrieved 2011-09-21.
  6. Halliday, James (2006). Wine Atlas of Australia. University of California Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-520-25031-4.
  7. "Langton's Classification History". Langtons.com.au. 2003-07-14. Retrieved 2011-08-28.
  8. "Think pink: the future's looking rose for Australian wine". SMH. 2006-08-13. Retrieved 2011-09-21.
  9. Brook, Stephen (2002-02-01). "A welcome change". Decanter. Retrieved 2011-09-21.

External links

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