Welcome to Master Wines
Master Wines is a family wine company owned and operated by Mel, Charlie and Janie Master in partnership with Winesellers Ltd., a national importing company based in Chicago. Their highly successful brands include Tortoise Creek from California, Le Charmel, Exem and Mont Gravet from France and Tiamo from Italy.
Tortoise Creek
Tortoise Creek is a very fine range of varietal wines from California, with an emphasis on sustainable farming.
Tiamo
Tortoise Creek is a very fine range of varietal wines from California, with an emphasis on sustainable farming.
Montgravet
Tortoise Creek is a very fine range of varietal wines from California, with an emphasis on sustainable farming.
Le Charmel
Tortoise Creek is a very fine range of varietal wines from California, with an emphasis on sustainable farming.
Exem Bordeaux
Tortoise Creek is a very fine range of varietal wines from California, with an emphasis on sustainable farming.
Mel and Janie are from England but both now US citizens. Mel has been in the wine business ever since leaving school and he met Janie when they were only twelve and thirteen (she played the piano and he played the guitar!) and as they grew up together, they shared a passion for food and wine. They married at 19 and 20.
The couple left England to live in France in 1970 and started a company called Master Wines and began selling little known French wines in the USA. Mel was a pioneer in bringing great wine values to the USA from France.
Charles Master owned and operated Brix Wine Bar in Cherry Creek, Colorado after being the Catering Manager at The Caribou Club in Aspen. He also helped create the wines of Les Jamelles with Mel & Janie, lived in France and traveled the world to assist in selling their wine. He spent 4 years in Margaux working at Château Prieuré-Lichine, following in his fathers’ footsteps. Now the family stays close through the love and passion they put into each bottle of Tortoise Creek and Tiamo.
Winesellers is a national importing company based in Chicago. The Sager family who own Winesellers have been close family friends with the Master family for the last forty years. Today, the company is run by Yale and his two sons, Adam and Jordan and is one of the leading national importing and marketing companies in the USA. Masterwines and Winesellers are equal partners in Tortoise Creek, Tiamo, Exem and Mont Gravet.
Provence – Le Charmel Rose, 2019
Mel and I have 50% of our hearts still in Provence. It is impossible to be stressed there.
Thanksgiving Alternatives
If, like us, you have had occasion to spend Thanksgiving by yourselves why take on the turkey at all? Vegetarians don’t. What about duck? What about vegetarians?
Houston
Doesn’t everyone want to be in Houston in July?!!! For us, the whole point of going to Houston IN JULY was to taste our Le Charmel, Tiamo and Tortoise Creek wines with our Texas importer, Pioneer Wine.
Harry Cipriani Finger Sandwiches
Today Harry’s Bar is famous the world over with outposts in New York and Buenos Aires. The restaurant invented the world-famous Bellini cocktail which is a mixture of Prosecco sparkling wine and pureed fresh peaches.
California Trip 2018
We had immense local asparagus spears with shaved pieces of Parmesan and I immediately knew I’d arrived in heaven.
Burgundy
With apologies to the great poet, John Masefield, I just want to tell you about a trip Mel and I took last month to Burgundy.
Beef Ribs and Pinot
It’s the first blizzard of the year here just north of Boston. Memories of 9ft of snow a couple of years back come flooding unwanted into one’s brain.
Randall’s Frittata
As well as being a brilliant wine maker, Randall is a writer, a poet and a botanist, so he spent the morning on his stomach gazing into the stream.
Master Wines 2016 Year In Review
We'd like to take a moment to thank all of our friends and family for a wonderful 2016. We feel truly blessed to be able to share our love for wine, food, and life every year. We look forward to a happy and healthy 2017 for people around the world, and especially our...
Get In Touch
Looking for more information about our wines? Get in touch with us today and we can help you find our wines in your local market.
