Monday, June 23, 2008

Mead

In my quest to explore local wines, I discovered a few months ago that there is a Meadery located just outside the borders of Chatham-Kent in Alvinston. Stephanie, the kids and I took a drive to Munro’s Honey and Meadery to pick up some local honey and to explore their meads.

Let me tell you that they have a great gift shop. There are all things bee there, including a glass hive where MJ and Madeline spend a good time looking for the Queen Bee. I respect Munro’s as their honey is unlike many honeys you buy in the grocery store. It is fragrant and floral and has all the trademark honey characteristics without tasting sugary sweet.

Now for the Mead. I must admit that this is my first time tasting Mead, but considering Munro’s have won many medals, I think this was a good place to start. I picked up three bottles for tasting, Mead, Honey Wine Mead, and Sweet Mead. The first two are slightly off dry table wines while the Sweet Mead was definitely a dessert style wine. Munro’s also make a Dry Mead but they are temporarily out of stock.

In general the table Meads have similar flavors to Sauvignon Blanc—grassy, cat-pee, with simple clean flavors. The Mead featured a grassy, honey nose with a very perfumed palate. The finish was very clean and simple. It somewhat reminded me of Drambuie on too many rocks (not surprising since honey is a main ingredient in Drambuie). The Honey wine had a beautiful golden color with honey and cat-pee aromas. It has a fuller body and is rounder and sweeter than the Mead with a dry finish.

The Sweet Mead had a beautiful sweet honey and floral nose with a full bodied mouth feel and a slightly waxy finish. It would go well with a dry fruit tart or custard dessert.

In general, I would say that Mead is a nice treat now and again, but I wouldn’t want to drink much all at once… the hangover would be deadly.

No comments: