Charles Melton La Belle Mere 2022
Regular price $35.00
Unit price per
Grenache, Shiraz, Riesling and Mataro from the Barossa and Eden Valleys. Almost exclusively estate grown vines from Krondorf, Rowland Flat and Lyndoch contribute the grapes for the 2022 La Belle Mere. A small percentage of the ferment underwent whole bunch fermentation with the wine being pressed into 5% new and 95% second fill barriques post ferment to mature on lees with regular batonnage for 28 months. The wine was naturally settled prior to bottling without finings.
Review for the 2021 vintage
‘A delicious rendition of juicy Barossa grenache/shiraz/mataro, a style that has blossomed over the past 10 to 20 years, here gaining an extra degree in an excellent vintage. Winemaker Charlie Melton has been a leader of the pack from the start.’ 96 points, Red Star For Value, James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion, December 2023.
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.