Charles Melton Wines

Charles Melton Wines released its first wine, and a sparkling red, in 1984. Charlie Melton, originally from Sydney, moved to the Barossa Valley in 1974 and spent time as an apprentice to Peter Lehmann before setting up Charles Melton Wines with his wife Virginia Weckert. In August 1986 the winery launched at the very first Barossa Valley Gourmet Weekend, and at the start of 1987 it opened its cellar door to the public. The first vintage of the flagship Nine Popes followed in 1988. In 1992 Charles Melton exported its first international order, to the UK, and the business still works with the same UK importer. In 2009 the winery expanded with a new winery and barrel sheds, and The Kirche guesthouse opened. Charlie and Virginia's daughter Sophie Melton returned to the family business as winemaker in 2022.

• 1984: first vintage, with the release of the first wine and a sparkling red.
• 1986: launched at the first Barossa Valley Gourmet Weekend, in August; 1987: cellar door opened to the public.
• 1988: first vintage of Nine Popes; 1992: first international export order, to the UK.
• 2009: new winery and barrel sheds built and The Kirche guesthouse opened; 2022: Sophie Melton returned as winemaker.

Around the time Charlie Melton was building his new winery and cellar door on Krondorf Road, the Australian Government was paying grape growers to pull out their old Barossa Shiraz and Grenache vines, a programme known today as the great vine-pull scheme. Grenache was then used mainly for cheap, high-alcohol fortified wines. The winery's history credits Charlie with convincing farmers to keep their historic vineyards and counts him among a small group of winemakers who helped retain the viticultural heritage of the Barossa. Having seen the possibilities for Grenache and Shiraz on his travels in France, he began to prune the old vines harder for lower yields, in dry-grown vineyards that are not irrigated. A Decanter feature on the Barossa's leading figures names Charlie Melton as 'another credited with supporting the Valley and its growers through tougher times.'

• The great vine-pull scheme: the Australian Government paid growers to pull out old Barossa Shiraz and Grenache vines.
• Charlie Melton pruned old vines harder for lower yields in dry-grown, unirrigated vineyards.

Charlie Melton and Sophie Melton are the winemakers and Virginia Weckert is Financial Director; Virginia also oversees the general running of the business. Sophie Melton began with a vintage at Peter Lehmann Wines, studied at the University of Adelaide and spent six years as Assistant Winemaker at Thorn-Clarke Wines before joining the family business. Vineyard manager Pete has managed the winery's vineyards for the past 30 years.

• Winemakers: Charlie Melton and Sophie Melton.
• Financial Director: Virginia Weckert, who also oversees the general running of the business.
• Vineyard manager: Pete, the longest-standing employee.

The winery has 85 acres planted. All grapes are dry grown and harvested from the winery's own vineyards and from a select group of grapegrowers; yields are often only one tonne to the acre, and many of the vines exceed 80 years. The Kirche Vineyard in Krondorf (30 acres) grows Cabernet and Shiraz on hard sandy loam over red clay and surrounds the Zum Kripplen Christi Lutheran Church, built in 1864. The Winery Block in Krondorf (5 acres) holds old bush vine Grenache planted during the Second World War in a strip of Bay of Biscay black cracking clay, with a little patch of Shiraz. The Woodland Vineyard in Altona (25 acres) is dry grown, principally to Shiraz and Grenache with a small Cabernet plot, on red brown loam over limestone. At the Koch Vineyard in Rowland Flat (20 acres), Bernhard Adolph Koch planted the vines in 1927; the block is split almost equally between bush vine Grenache and Shiraz on friable gradational clay loam. In 2008 Charlie and Virginia bought 73 acres of sloping land in the high Eden Valley, at 550 metres, to be planted with a selection of Mediterranean varieties. In the Clare Valley, Sydney Dean Weckert planted the 5-acre Father in Law vineyard in 2000 with cuttings from the winery's heritage Shiraz and Cabernet blocks.

• 85 acres planted; all grapes dry grown, from the winery's own vineyards and a select group of grapegrowers.
• Krondorf: the Kirche Vineyard (30 acres, Cabernet and Shiraz) and the Winery Block (5 acres, bush vine Grenache planted during the Second World War).
• Altona: the Woodland Vineyard (25 acres); Rowland Flat: the Koch Vineyard (20 acres, planted 1927).
• Eden Valley: 73 acres bought in 2008 at 550 metres; Clare Valley: the Father in Law vineyard (5 acres, planted 2000).

The winery uses organic practices in its vineyards, adds cover crops for soil health and picks all its vines by hand. Techniques in the winery include whole bunch fermentation, open fermentation, pigeage and indigenous yeast fermentation. The dry reds mature in mainly French and a little American oak, 25% of it new each year, though a couple of wines receive 100% new oak. Voices of Angels matures for 36 months in 500-litre puncheons rather than barriques, and the NV Sparkling Red spends almost 60 months on lees.

• Organic practices in the vineyards; cover crops; all vines hand picked.
• Whole bunch fermentation, open fermentation, pigeage and indigenous yeast fermentation.
• Dry reds matured in mainly French and a little American oak, 25% new each year.

The range runs from the rosé Rose of Virginia, a blend of Grenache, Shiraz, Cabernet and Pinot Meunier from Lyndoch, Rowland Flat and Krondorf, through a series of reds. Nine Popes blends Grenache, Shiraz and Mataro from Krondorf, the Eden Valley and Rowland Flat. La Belle Mere blends Grenache, Shiraz, Riesling and Mataro from the Barossa Valley and Eden Valley; Father in Law is a Shiraz from the Clare Valley, Krondorf and Lyndoch; The Kirche blends Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon from Krondorf; Grains of Paradise is a Shiraz from Krondorf and Altona; and Voices of Angels is a Shiraz and Riesling from the Adelaide Hills. Pressings is a Shiraz from a single vineyard, the Nitschke Road block, made from only the pressings portion of the juice. The range also includes a Cabernet, a Father in Law Reserve, a DSC Riesling and an NV Sparkling Red of Shiraz, Grenache and Cabernet. Charles Melton also makes Sotto di Ferro, a vin santo-styled dessert wine.

• Rose of Virginia: Grenache, Shiraz, Cabernet and Pinot Meunier.
• Nine Popes: Grenache, Shiraz and Mataro; first vintage 1988.
• Grains of Paradise, Father in Law and Pressings: Shiraz; The Kirche: Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon; Voices of Angels: Shiraz and Riesling.
• Also La Belle Mere, a Cabernet, a Father in Law Reserve, a DSC Riesling, an NV Sparkling Red and the dessert wine Sotto di Ferro.

Writing in Decanter, Stephen Brook named Charlie Melton 'one of the Barossa’s best exponents' of Grenache and, of the Barossa's blends of Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvèdre, wrote: 'The most profound is surely Charles Melton’s Nine Popes.' He also placed Rose of Virginia among Australia's best rosés from Grenache.

The winery calls its cellar style 'a kiss of superb oak character – rather than a thump', which lets the fragrance and flavours of old dry-grown Barossa vines come to the fore. Of his unfiltered wines from dry-grown vines, Charlie Melton told Decanter: 'I won’t even out the bumps'. Stephen Brook found Melton's Grenache 'rich, supple and concentrated, with complex aromas that become more meaty and leathery with age'.

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://charlesmeltonwines.com.au/, https://charlesmeltonwines.com.au/our-history/, https://charlesmeltonwines.com.au/vineyard/, https://charlesmeltonwines.com.au/winemaking/, https://charlesmeltonwines.com.au/our-team/, https://charlesmeltonwines.com.au/shop/, https://charlesmeltonwines.com.au/cellar-door/, and the wine pages https://charlesmeltonwines.com.au/product/2022-nine-popes/, https://charlesmeltonwines.com.au/product/rose-of-virginia/, https://charlesmeltonwines.com.au/product/2022-grains-of-paradise/, https://charlesmeltonwines.com.au/product/la-belle-mere/, https://charlesmeltonwines.com.au/product/father-in-law/, https://charlesmeltonwines.com.au/product/sparkling-red/, https://charlesmeltonwines.com.au/product/pressings/, https://charlesmeltonwines.com.au/product/2022-voices-of-angels/, https://charlesmeltonwines.com.au/product/the-kirche/. Secondary sources: Wine Australia (https://www.australianwine.com/trade/expo/wineries/charles-melton-wines/) and Decanter (Stephen Brook, 'A welcome change: Grenache wine'; Catharine Lowe, 'Legends Barossa Valley'). Last verified 2026-10-19. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.