51 Turning Full Circle

TURNING FULL CIRCLE

The enigmatic Rose Kentish has added a new selection of spirited botanicals to her repertoire.

I FIRST MET ROSE KENTISH sometime in the early 2000’s.

At that time, she and her husband owned Ulithorne Wines – a brand based in McLaren Vale, but spreading its wings into the south of France and the island of Corsica.

The Ulithorne wines were all terrific, but it was the Corsican Vermentinu that stopped me in my tracks.

At a time when Australia was just beginning its journey with the variety (here called Vermentino … the Italian spelling) and turning out some beautifully crisp, crunchy, gently perfumed wines, Ulithorne’s Corsican version entered the fray with texture, power, layers of flavour.

The difference was due as much to the philosophical gulf between Italian and Corsican winemaking as it was due to the youth of Australia’s plantings, a vast disparity in yield, and the maturity of the Corsican vines.

Whatever … it was a magical wine.

And it made me an instant fan of Rose Kentish (she also happens to be a wonderfully energetic, warm, gently passionate human being) and her Ulithorne brand.

Then Ulithorne sold.

Rose Kentish … the enigma.

She’s a chameleon in so many ways, changing her colours to suit the surrounds.

Ulithorne was handed over and Rose began two new ventures – Rose Kentish Wines (once WORDS TONY HARPER

again spanning McLaren Vale, Provence and Corsica; same leopard, different spots) and Sparkke with its range of beers, cider and alcoholic ginger beer.

Sparkke was cofounded by Kari Allen, and – aside from being about females making waves in a largely male-dominated space – it was flavoured with social commentary.

And I’ll quote Kari here; ‘Sparkke’s craft beer packaging throws a spotlight onto issues like sexual consent, climate change and Australia’s treatment of refugees.’ Nice.

It also pushed the carbon-neutral barrow.

This all happened in 2016 and things trotted along quite nicely … pub, brewery, wines both local and European.

Then, four years later, along came Covid and its slamming of doors in both a travel sense and a hospitality sense.

No more Provence Rose or Corsican Vermentinu.

No more brew-pub entertaining people within its walls.

I think the pandemic, especially in hospitality, sorted the thinkers from the plodders.

Some restaurants began take-out and home delivery so their kitchens and staff remained utilised. Clever. Some simply quit.

Rose and Kari had the dual problems of a pub not entertaining and a brewery losing a large part of its market. They weren’t alone and here I’ll quote Rose;

‘When Sparkke’s operations flagged during the early months of COVID-19, I refused to follow the example of breweries around the world.

‘Instead of pouring beer down the drain, I began a small distilling pilot.

‘At the company’s most challenging moment I was determined to conjure something innovative and delicious.

‘Using my small copper still, I made an Amaro from Sparkke’s Cider.

‘Out of the Hard Lemonade, I pulled a Lemon Flower Gin.

‘With Sparkke’s all-natural Pale Ale, I leaned heavily on my maker’s instinct to meet a much greater challenge.’

There’s the chameleon again.

Which brings me to the gist of this story … Full Circle Spirits.

In a country awash with locally made gins (some great, some so-so, some dreadful) these are beacons.

They have purity of spirit (not like a nun. More like a mountain stream, but spiritous) and a palette of flavours and aromas that unifies the range in its precision and detailed, subtle, thoughtful use of the botanical additions.

Some Aussie gins can be truly bombastic. Others just one-dimensional.

These are multi-faceted, but – like really good perfume – balanced and thought-provoking.

Oh … did I mention that Rose is studying perfume-making? Of course she is.

Full Circle makes five gins, each aiming for a different end-use (and demanding a different mixer); Chinotto, Green Olive, Lemon and Thyme, Orange and Bay Leaf, Plum and Hibiscus.

The latter is very vaguely pink, but it comes with a wee bottle of intensely coloured hibiscus extract, so you can dial up the pinkness of your pink gin … genius.

Tasting through these with Rose, I was tempted to not mix; I have a theory that so much effort goes into the assembly of really good spirits that mixing them – especially with often too-sweet tonic water – just muddles what the distiller is trying to convey.

But, with her usual sense of detail, Rose chose different tonics for each gin.

And they are wonderful.

The first thing to glean is the very neat cut of the spirit – it has no nasty notes from stretching the cut.

It is sweet, gentle and nicely viscous.

Then there is the botanicals – different for each gin, but sharing a familial sense of subtlety and complexity.

And it’s that subtlety, precision, gentle allure that really makes these spirits tick; they are some of the best Australian gins I have tasted.

Full Circle also produces vodka, liqueurs (cherry, honey, a wonderfully flavoured but perhaps too-sweet amaro, and wild rose), a malt (I guess destined to be whiskey when it has aged a while) and two vermouths.

As for Rose Kentish Wines, the McLaren vale stuff has been ongoing and the French/Corsican stuff obviously on hold for the moment.

But the Rose Kentish Wines website has pre-Covid Corsican wines for sale (the Provence rose is sold out) and Rose plans to set sail next year to reignite the adventure.