Mead

Avalon

Vineyard

Pennard

Organic Wines

History of Mead

Mead is almost certainly the most ancient of all alcoholic drinks, possibly dating back some 12,000 years. It is very simply made from honey, diluted and then allowed to ferment. It crops up in many cultures across the world and throughout history. It would have pre-dated even wine and beer, which can be traced back several thousand years.

The tradition of mead in Europe was pursued most in areas less suitable for wine grapes, which explains the enthusiasm of the Vikings for mead.

England has a long history of making mead, although it is not well-recorded. The monasteries were skilled in keeping bees and brewing. After the dissolution of the monasteries, these skills became scattered and only survived thanks to individuals pursuing a cottage industry. Honey production has always been scattered and small scale, so mead never lent itself to industrial scale production. Although English honey is of excellent quality, it is difficult to produce on a large scale because of our unpredictable climate and problems with disease. It is almost impossible to produce organic honey in England, (or anywhere in Europe for that matter), because you can't get your bees out of flying range, (3 miles), of conventional agriculture.

How we make Mead

For our organic mead, we use organic honey imported from Brazil. It is cheaper because the bees don't have to stop work for winter - there are flowers all year round! It is good to encourage organic production abroad, because it gives other countries an alternative and an incentive to resist the aggressive marketing of agrochemicals and GM crops. So the more organic products we buy, the more land is cared for by traditional methods, which have proven sustainability.

Pennard Organic Mead (Medium Sweet) takes its rich golden hue from the organic honey. It has just sufficient sweetness to bring out the full flavour of the honey, but has a light, lemony finish, which has you reaching for another sip.

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