A Glass With: Charles and Sophie Melton

The Kirche has had a great year. Congratulations on your IWC Trophy Success for the 2021 vintage. Could you talk us through this seminal Australian red blend?

CM The Kirche is made from the ‘Kirche’ vineyard surrounding the Village Church in Krondorf. It’s a wine that speaks of this site. We don’t usually enter wine shows other than Decanter and the International Wine Challenge, and not every year. With this Trophy, we wonder whether the tasting panel have less of an affinity for blockbuster Aussie reds and are starting to prefer something more nuanced. In our range, Kirche is one of the wines that’s more poised and finely structured. We think it’s a terrific wine, and it’s good to have the IWC recognise that too.

The future looks very exciting with Sophie on board. It’s never a given that growing up in wine means you’ll also pursue a career in the industry. What made you decide to become a winemaker, Sophie?

SM I loved growing up around wine. In those early years, I was probably more of a hindrance than a help because I just wanted to be involved. Even as a child, vintage had a real buzz, and I loved watching the forklifts, the crusher, and all the activity.

There are photos of me at five or six, sitting in a little floral dress on a seat Dad had welded onto a crusher post. That was my safe spot, where I could be part of it all. Around ten, I finally got to help properly. Mum and Dad would pick me up from school, bring me to the winery, and return me in time for bedtime. Looking back, it must have been inconvenient for them during vintage, but it was very special for me.

There was no single defining moment when I decided on winemaking; it just felt natural. I had an affinity for it and enjoyed it, so studying winemaking was an easy decision. My first harvest was at Peter Lehmann, where Dad began his career, which felt like coming full circle. From there, I went to Thorn-Clarke, which is more Bordeaux-focused in terms of varieties, and now I work with Dad. Winemaking is part of my DNA, and I cannot imagine stepping away from the cellar, the winery, and the vineyards.

Some customers have known me since I was a child, and now they see me making wine alongside Dad. Few industries allow that kind of connection, and I think it is truly remarkable.

Did you always find yourself gravitating back to Charles Melton Wines?

SM Yes, there was always a pull to come home, but I learned a great deal from the mentors I had along the way, including their winemaking philosophies and all the small tips and tricks you pick up after long 12-hour vintage days.

Coming back here is special. I get to continue our story while putting my own mark on it. Dad has spent 50 years making wine in the Barossa, 40 years under the Charles Melton label. He started from scratch and built everything, which is very meaningful to me.

CM It was never a given that Sophie would come to work here, and there was no automatic assumption. Her role is more than just winemaking. She is also involved in business decisions, as in a few years she will be running the winery. Sophie and I are hands-on winemakers, physically rolling barrels and working in the cellar. There is no question that she will bring her own influence and make her own decisions once she has been here for a while.

How are you two finding it working together? Do you have a way of dividing up the work, or is it just collaborative across all the decisions?

CM It is a bit of both. When we do our barrel tasting, we taste every barrel blind, give our gradings, and are lucky because our views generally align. That part is very collaborative. We are generally simpatico, not always, but on most things, we share a similar vision for the future.

Sophie also brings skills that I do not have, particularly in IT and technical areas, which has been a huge benefit alongside her winemaking expertise.

Another advantage is that we are both straightforward enough to say to each other, “I think that is a **** idea” or “I am not sure about that.” We have a strong, open dialogue.

What is it about the Barossa that has led it to become a source of some of Australia's most celebrated wines?

CM A key strength is our old vine resource. These renowned vineyards produce unmatched wine quality, supported by growers who have farmed them for generations. The last figure I saw showed that around 85% of Barossa vineyards are owned and grown by professional grape growers, with only 15% owned by wineries.

This means new up-and-coming winemakers can access excellent fruit, just as I did. In many regions, the best vineyards are owned by established producers, but in Barossa, it is the opposite. The accessibility of top vineyards to new producers, both then and now, ensures that the Barossa wines making an impact globally are of very high quality. It also creates a strong incentive to farm well and maintain old vines, as good fruit is always in demand and talented winemakers continue to be drawn to the region.

Even now, as the global wine industry faces challenges, competition, and demand for old-vine fruit helps keep these vines in the ground. It has not always been easy. In the mid-1980s, many vines were removed under a government scheme due to a grape surplus. Fortunately, by global standards, Barossa is now a small region with manageable production, putting it in a strong position today. This accessibility remains vital for both producers and the preservation of Barossa’s old vine heritage.

This sensitivity to site is at the heart of one of your most celebrated wines, 'Nine Popes'. What made you decide to start pioneering a Grenache-based, Rhône blend in Australia?

CM When we bought our property, while I was still winemaking at Peter Lehmann, it had old bush vine Grenache planted. Originally, it went into our traditional method sparkling red wine, but then I got a call from the wine writer John Stanford. John was a qualified winemaker and one of the early Roseworthy graduates. He was consulting for someone wanting cuttings from our Grenache vineyard behind the church on Krondorf Road, which he believed was the best Grenache in the Barossa.

The problem we had was back in 1988, when we first released this wine; no one in Australia was buying Grenache. So, in those early years, we had to draw the parallel to Châteauneuf to make a connection with world-class and quality wines. Thankfully, as you well know, these days, we don't have to make that connection anymore. But, in those early years, it was critical to get people to take Grenache seriously. ‘Nine Popes’ also gave us a unique selling point in the early days of the business, as no one else was making a wine like it.

After more than ten years at Peter Lehmann, my background was far more Bordeaux-oriented than Rhône, so the decision to make ‘Nine Popes’ came from the sheer quality of the vineyard.

Do you still work with growers today, or are you primarily using estate fruit?

When we first started, we worked mainly with growers, but now around 95% of our fruit is estate-grown. Even so, growers have always guided us. In the early days, people would mention a mate with a great vineyard, and we would go and have a look, often finding something exceptional.

To understand Barossa wines, you need to understand the culture. Many are shaped as much by family and community connections as by deliberate vineyard selection. Often, the best sites are found through word of mouth, with someone knowing a neighbour who knows someone with a special vineyard.

Can you talk us through some of your key vineyards?

CM The three key varieties we grow are Grenache, Shiraz and Cabernet, with three Grenache sites. The winery block was planted in 1943. The Liebich’s block has 100-year-old bush vines and is named after the family we bought it from. We are only the third owners since the 1850s. The Woodland vineyard, our home block, has 60-year-old head-trained Grenache, some of which goes into the  ‘Rose of Virginia’ rather than Nine Popes. The ‘Koch’ vineyard has 100-year-old Shiraz and very old Cabernet. Then, in Clare Valley, we have the ‘Father-in-Law’ block planted with Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The key thing to understand with our vineyards is that all our fruit comes from the southern end of the Barossa. There’s a strong stylistic difference between the North and the South. We find that the southern fruit is finer in structure, which suits our cellar style. It still has a level of richness but just seems to have a finer line of acidity.

We do not make big bruising wines, and few do these days. The idea that Barossa wines are all heavy is a myth. It is outdated, but the Australian industry is largely responsible for that reputation. It was once a successful marketing angle, but it no longer reflects the wines being made. Changing this perception is taking time.

Have you found that changes in the vineyards have impacted how you work?

CM Yes, and that change is dictated by climate. This is what occupies our minds most at the moment, especially with old dry-grown vineyards. We must use every tool available to ensure they survive. Many of these 100-year-old vineyards are as much a historical precinct as they are a source of fruit. With current climate changes, maintaining dry-farmed vineyards is a real challenge, and we are putting a lot of energy into keeping them viable and strong.

It is getting tougher every year. We have just come out of the driest 18 months in the last 150 years. This will affect style, but the change dictated by site is gradual and incremental. We are trying to stay a step ahead of the climate.

Are you adopting specific methods to combat climate change long term, or is it varying year to year?

CM It is probably a combination of both. We put a lot of effort into how we prune each block and are implementing under-vine mulching to preserve moisture and control weeds without chemicals. It may seem basic, but the devil is in the detail. We have always been detail-oriented, but over the last 30 or 40 years we have become far less cavalier, as there is no longer room for it.

For every block, we consider the potential weather forecast and prune accordingly. While this has always been part of viticulture, it has now become almost critical. What was once basic is now much more complex.

Has how you farm changed, too?

CM Largely, I think we're more evolutionary than revolutionary when it comes to farming. We constantly assess what is and isn’t working. We sow cover crops, we use natural vetch and triticale to put nutrients back into the soil, but we know we will have to keep doing more in the coming years. We keep a very open mind about these things.

What do you think the future looks like at Charles Melton? Is there further evolution on the horizon?

SM That is a question I get asked all the time. Long-term customers sometimes worry our style might change radically with a new winemaker, but that is not our approach. For me, it is about continuing to finesse and tweak our wines while maintaining the classic Charles Melton style. If I did not enjoy making the wines we currently produce, I would be working elsewhere.

Our wines are shaped by the fruit from our vineyards, which we manage from start to finish. The quality of these vineyards dictates the style, so there will always be a strong consistency. Our loyal customers in Australia and internationally expect this style from us.

I look at our wines constantly and have done so for the last ten years. This has allowed me to observe the evolution of both our wines and Barossa wines in general, as we taste not only Charles Melton wines but also those from other Barossa producers, across Australia, and internationally. Part of the joy of wine is sharing it with others and being part of that community. As Dad mentioned, younger generations are embracing finesse, and we have seen a stylistic shift in the Barossa from richer wines to ones that are more elegant. It is exciting to be part of this.

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