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Man On A Mission»
Graeme Melton and a mate were travelling across South Australia in 1973, their EH Holden was in dire need of maintenance and Graeme took up casual work at a passing winery. The site supervisor was Peter Lehmann and young Graeme had his epiphany on the road to Barossa Valley. Lehmann suggested that Graeme change his name to Charlie and take the pilgrimmage to Vallee Rhone. Charlie became prepossessed with the culture of old vines Grenache, Shiraz and Mourverdre. He returned to the Barossa, at a time when old vineyard fruit was made into flagon Port and growers were destroying their historic sites in return for government grants. Charlie emabarked on a crusade to conserve and restore the ancient vines, establishing his cellars at Tanunda along Krondorf Road. He has since retained the most precious parcels, once destined for the logger's axe, they are now the genesis of fruit for the distinguished Barossa brand known as Charles.. Melton makes a mean mourvedre»
Rouge Homme
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Rouge Homme
Right at the heart of Coonawarra are the Rouge Homme Vineyards, established in 1908 when the Redman family purchased part of John Riddoch's Penola Fruit Colony

For half a century, the Rouge Homme winemakers supplied wine to other companies and merchants. With the inaugural release of the 1954 Cabernet Sauvignon, Rouge Homme as a winery itself began to attract some of the fame. Rouge Homme, French for Red Man, signified the similarity of the wines to the red wines of Bordeaux. The Rouge Homme Richardson's label was introduced with the 1992 vintage and named in honour of Henry Richardson. In 1892 Henry Richardson, one of the earliest Coonawarra pioneers, purchased land from the region's founder John Riddoch, and established a vineyard winery on the property.

Rouge Homme

In 1965 the Redman family sold the vineyards and winery, which, with the original Richardson property, became Rouge Homme as it is today. Occupying about 60 hectares, the vineyards are planted with classic varieties including Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Pinot Noir, with a small amount of Chardonnay. The Rouge Homme Winery is now one of the most modern and sophisticated in the Coonawarra.

Situated in the southeast of South Australia some 50kms north of Mount Gambier, the Coonawarra grapegrowing district is a unique isolated strip of rich terra rossa soil over porous limestone. Running in a north-south direction just over 14kms long and around 2kms wide, it is an island of red soil bordered by black soil, grazing country and sandy loams. A climate of cold, wet winters and mild to warm, dry summers allows slow ripening of the grapes, with excellent development of sugar levels and flavour, and the retention of good acidity. Because of the cold winters and springs, the vines at Rouge Homme are trained over especially high trellises, with overhead mist sprinklers to protect them from frosts during spring.

As custodians of the Rouge Homme's great Coonawarra traditions, the winemaking team continues to produce a range of distinctive, approachable wines which have the potential to develop great complexity with bottle ageing over many years. With a considerable reputation as classic Coonawarra, Rouge Homme wines are frequent gold medal winners - particularly the reds. In 1994, Rouge Homme received what is regarded by many to be the wine industry's greatest accolade - the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy which was awarded to 1993 Rouge Homme Richardsons Red Block.

Rouge Homme

Rouge Homme