En Primeur at The Mill Middleton

Queen Rose releases her two French wines at the Fleurieu.

winemaker Rose Kentish

It could well have been in Provence, France on Sunda, May 22 at The Mill at Middleton when Ulithorne winemaker Rose Kentish presented the first tastings of two stunning new French wines she made while working at wineries in Corsica and Provence.

Rose, her artist husband Sam Harrison and their children recently returned after a nine month sojourn in France in 2010 and have bought the historic The Mill at Middleton which doubles as an exotic cellar door and their own private home.

On Sunday,May 22 (despite dreadful weather) The Mill was filled with people who attended the en primeur – an all-things French fun food, wine event.

However, amidst the frivolity was the serious business of the release of Rose’s two French wines – Corsus Vermentino 2010, the first vintage she made with French winemaker Jerome Girard at Vino Vecchio, recently named as one of the top Domains on Corsica. The other exciting wine – a limited release of the pale salmon-pink hued Epoch Rose 2010 was also the first vintage made by Rose and French winemaker Remy Devictor in 2010 at Domaine de la Sangliere, a second generation Domaine on the south coast of Provence, near Toulon.

Prior to her winemaking in France, Rose was McLaren Vale “Bushing Queen’ in 2008 and her Paternus 2006 was wine of the McLaren Vale Wine Show that year.

Meanwhile, Rose and Sam have returned and renovated The Mill and the event gave them an opportunity to open up the living quarters of their home, which doubled the capacity for visitors.

The white-washed walls of The Mill created a great gallery atmosphere for striking new paintings from Sam Harrison’s recent soiree in Provence while the space was scattered also with 1950s furniture and a new shipment of interesting hand selected French antiques.

Platters of French cheeses and local olives and vine grapes were placed on old French refectory tables and to add a wonderful French flavour, the family ran non-stop slide-shows of photographs of France on one of the white-washed walls.

For wine-lovers, tasting notes claim Vermentino 2010 has a “French pineapple and citrus nose’’. with big fleshy mouthfeel with a long, dry fresh acid finish.

Interestingly, the Epoch Rose 2010 (58 per cent Cinsault, 33 per cent Grenache and 9 per cent Mourvedre) was night harvested from 15-25 September 2010, de-stemmed, cooled and pressed.

Both wines sell for $34 a bottle and more information on www.ulithorne.com.au.

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