Charles Melton Wines is an Australian wine

Australian wine

The Australian Wine Industry is the fourth largest exporter of wine around the world, with 760 million litres a year to a large international export market and contributes $5.5 billion per annum to the nation's economy...

ry based in Tanunda

Tanunda, South Australia

Tanunda is a town situated in the Barossa Valley region of South Australia, 70 kilometres north east of the state capital, Adelaide. The town derives its name from an Aboriginal word meaning water hole. Town population is approximately 3500.-Settlement:...

, within the Barossa Valley wine region

Barossa Valley (wine)

The Barossa Valley is one of Australia's oldest wine regions. Located in South Australia, the Barossa Valley is about 56km northeast of the city of Adelaide...

 of South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

.

History

Charles Melton was first introduced to winemaking as a career at Hurlstone Agricultural High School

Hurlstone Agricultural High School

Hurlstone Agricultural High School is an agricultural and selective, co-educational, public high school, located in Glenfield, a south-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

.

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.

In 1979 Saltram was sold to Seagram

Seagram

The Seagram Company Ltd. was a large corporation headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada that was the largest distiller of alcoholic beverages in the world. Toward the end of its independent existence it also controlled various entertainment and other business ventures...

 and Melton followed Lehmann to work at the newly established Peter Lehmann Wines.

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

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

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.

Wines

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

The most well known wine produced by Charles Melton is the Nine Popes. It is a blend of Grenache

Grenache

Grenache is one of the most widely planted red wine grape varieties in the world. It ripens late, so it needs hot, dry conditions such as those found in Spain, the south of France, and California's San Joaquin Valley. It is generally spicy, berry-flavored and soft on the palate with a relatively...

, Shiraz

Shiraz

Shiraz may refer to:* Shiraz, Iran, a city in Iran* Shiraz County, an administrative subdivision of Iran* Vosketap, Armenia, formerly called ShirazPeople:* Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet* Ara Shiraz, Armenian sculptor...

 and Mourvedre

Mourvèdre

Mourvèdre , Mataró or Monastrell is wine grape variety used to make both strong, dark red wines and rosés. It is an international variety grown in many regions around the world....

. The first vintage of this wine was produced in 1988, and it was the first GSM blend made in the Barossa Valley. Langton's Classification of Australian Wine placed this wine at the level of "Excellent" in 2000 and "Distinguished" in 2005 and 2010.

A rosé

Rosé

A rosé is a type of wine that has some of the color typical of a red wine, but only enough to turn it pink. The pink color can range from a pale orange to a vivid near-purple, depending on the grapes and wine making techniques.- Production techniques :There are three major ways to produce rosé...

style wine made from Grenache, and named Rose of Virginia after his wife "is regarded as one of Australia's best roses".