Charles Melton Sparkling Red NV (2023 Disgorgement)
Regular price
$79.00
Sale price
$94.00
Unit price per
Made using the traditional Australian technique for sparkling red, as pioneered by Seppelts at Great Western. The base wine is aged for around two years or so in oak and then tirage bottled and left on lees for up to five years. This gives a complex aromatic of fruit sweetness and classic autolysis character and fine bubble. An important factor is the liquering dosage as this degree of sweetness has helped some of the classic examples age for decades.
‘Lovely deepish burgundy colour. Beautifully clean and sweet lift on the nose. A mix of fragrant red fruits and sweet spices. A very fine tongue coating mousse with some apparent sweetness (necessary for a long ageing traditional sparkling burgundy style) that is finely balanced by some just evident tannins. The complexity and fine bubble is evidence of the almost 60 months lees ageing. Best drunk just chilled.’ Winemaker's Note.
Charlie Melton needs no introduction. Since his first vintage in 1984 and on to his first vintage of Nine Popes in 1988 and beyond he has been a leader of the Barossa Valley. Importantly, he was one of the first to recognise the value of the Barossa’s old plantings of Grenache, Shiraz and Mataro, at a time when the S.A. Government launched the infamous Vine-Pull Scheme, paying growers to remove these so unproductive vines!
And thank goodness he did! Since those early days, the range of Charles Melton Wines has expanded, with total plantings today of just over 34 hectares, the majority being old vine plantings in Krondorf, Lyndoch and Rowland Flat. Indeed, the very oldest of these (at Rowland Flat) will be celebrating their centenary in 2027.
As if this pedigree needed any endorsement, the 2014 Nine Popes was awarded the trophy for Best Australian Red at the 2017 International Wine Challenge in London. Today, Charlie has been joined by daughter Sophie as winemaker, further underwriting the future of this much admired and celebrated family business.