Two mates; a road trip across Australia; a broken down ute; two jobs needed to finance the repair; two jobs in Barossa Valley wineries up for grabs; a flip of a coin and Graeme Melton takes the cellar hand’s job at Krondorf under the tutelage of a certain Peter “King of the Barossa” Lehmann. From such chance scenarios are legends made and Graeme, soon to be christened “Charlie” Melton, spent a further ten years with Lehmann, before setting up his own Charles Melton label in 1984.
Charles Melton wines pursued Charlie’s obsession with Rhone varieties Shiraz and Grenache, producing dry-grown (non-irrigated), low-yield grapes from ancient vines and resulting in the stunning homage to Chateauneuf du Pape, Charles Melton Nine Popes. Charlie’s winemaking ability was not however quite matched by his French translation skills, and the “neuf”, meaning “new”, of Chateauneuf was interpreted as “nine”, thus giving birth to the now legendary Charles Melton Nine Popes name, which is accompanied by Charles Melton Barossa Valley Shiraz on our list.
