Charles Melton Grains of Paradise Barossa Valley Shiraz 2021
This wine is rich and deeply coloured. The nose is brimming with juicy sweet plum, red cherries and an underlay of fragrant herbs. The palate is expressive and generous with meaty notes and plush tannins which carry through to the long and elegant finish.
At Charles Melton, all grapes are dry grown and harvested from the estate's own 50 acres of vineyards as well as from a select group of growers. For the 2021 vintage, much of the fruit for `Grains of Paradise` was sourced from Charlie's vineyard at Rowland Flat, planted in 1927 on clay loam soils. The rest of the fruit is sourced from the `Kirche` vineyard in Krondorf. Most of this vineyard sits on sandy loam and red clay, with the edge on the eastern side heading into the seam of black cracking clay (Bay of Biscay). It is named `Kirche`, German for church, because it surrounds the Zum Kripplen Christi Lutheran Church, built in 1864.
To exemplify the classic Barossa Shiraz style, gentle cap management is practised to get full colour and flavour extraction. The wine was then transferred to mainly American oak barriques, of which 15% were new, to age on the lees for 28 months. No fining or filtration was carried out prior to bottling.
Charlie Melton was among the first to recognise the value and tradition of Barossa Valley’s old-vine Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvèdre (Mataro). While others were grubbing up Shiraz to plant more fashionable varieties, Charlie and a small band of Barossa winemakers convinced farmers to keep their historic vineyards. These wines were initially styled on those from the Rhône but are now considered leading examples in their own right.
Since 1984, Charlie has produced premium Barossa red wines. Charles Melton is a family project, and today his daughter Sophie, a talented young winemaker, assists Charlie in the winery. The wines have lovely balance and freshness, with the use of primarily French and some American oak giving them a supple texture and poise. The grapes are dry-grown, chemical-free and harvested from estate-owned vineyards in Tanunda and Lyndoch. These vineyards now comprise 20 hectares, the oldest planted in 1947 and the rest from the late 1960s onwards. The estate vineyards are supplemented by other growers with whom Charlie has worked for many years, with the oldest grower block dating from the 1880s, with numerous vines ranging between 70 and 100 years old.
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