Old Vine Grenache 2016

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Om Charles Melton Wines

Anbefalet af selveste Henschke, der bl.a. står bag en af Australiens mest ikoniske vine Hill Of Grace, er Charles Melton Wines et sted, der byder på noget helt særligt. Charles Melton Wines er et mindre dry grown winery beliggende i Barossa Valley ejet af winemaker Charles Melton og hans kone Virginia. Stedet er usandsynligt smukt og idyllisk og producerer nogle fantastiske vine.

History

Since the first vintage of Charles Melton Wines in 1984, this small Barossa Valley winery has gained both national and international recognition for its fine red table wines.

The wines move from a light red, ‘The Rose of Virginia’ through to Australia’s premier Rhone-style red, ‘Nine Popes’. Charlie Melton also makes small quantities of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sparkling Shiraz, and is the only Australian producer of a vin-santo styled dessert wine, Sotto di Ferro.

Charlie was one of the first to recognize the value and tradition of the Barossa’s old vineyard Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre. At a time when others were pulling out vineyards of Shiraz to plant more fashionable varieties, Charlie was convincing farmers to keep their historic vineyards. He was one of a small group of winemakers who helped retain the viticultural heritage of the Barossa.

Who is Charles Melton?

To cut a long story short …A boy from Sydney named Graeme Melton, arrived in the Barossa Valley in 1973. Graeme and a mate needed jobs to fix their broken-down EH Holden ute to continue their road trip across Australia. There were two jobs going – one as a cellarhand at a local winery called Krondorf, and another pruning at a vineyard down the road. They flipped a coin – Graeme got the cellarhand job.

At Krondorf he met Barossa winemaking legend Peter Lehmann (at the time, chief winemaker for the Dalgety group, Stonyfield and Saltram), and moved with Peter when he set up his new winery 6 years later. Lehmann refused to call his protégé “Graeme”, hence “Charlie” was born – and has stuck!

Just to speed this up a bit… During the next 10 years, ‘Charlie’ honed his winemaking skills under Lehmann – and met his wife-to-be, Virginia. Fast enough? In that time, he also travelled to France, and developed the beginnings of what would become a life-long passion for the wines of the Rhone Valley – in particular the Southern Rhone region where Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre are blended with up to 11 other varieties, as in the Chateauneuf du Pape appellation.

In 1984, Charlie purchased his first grapes to be made under the new “Charles Melton” label – and produced a Sparkling Red from old vines dry-grown in the Barossa. He soon splashed out again – this time purchasing 13 acres of Grenache and Shiraz. At that time, he also built the cellar door (“the barn”) and winery which still stands today on Krondorf Road, just outside Tanunda, in the valley of Barossa, in the state of South Australia.

Rødvin. Australien.