Charles Melton Rose Of Virginia 2023
Regular price $32.00
Unit price per
Grenache, Shiraz and Cabernet from the Barossa and Eden Valleys. All hand-picked fruits are de-stemmed and given a 48-72 hour cold soak before the juice is enzyme settled to brilliant clarity. Two different aromatic yeast strains are used to give both perfume and mouthfeel in the ferment. The wine is bottled immediately post ferment to retain the superb aromatic characters of guava and Turkish delight, with some added vinous complexity. Finely structured, but with a touch of red fruit richness.
Review for the 2022 vintage
‘Destemmed (not crushed), 3-day cold soak, free run juice drained and settled; 4-6 week cool fermentation. The vivid magenta hue (in a clear glass bottle) is, to put it mildly, jaw-dropping. But it's far more than show; it's wondrously fruity, yet bone dry, its rainbow of small red berries enough to stop those who 'don't like rosés' in their tracks.’ 97 points, Red Star For Value, James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion, November 2022.
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.