Melina Honey wine

18 Apr

Wine is produced by fermentation, a process that converts the fermentable sugars glucose and fructose, into alcohol, specifically ethanol, and carbon dioxide. To make wine, the source of the sugar must be grapes, but, of course, other fruits, provided they have sufficient sugars, can also be fermented. If the source of the sugar is something other than grape, the source must be named on the label. Berries, such as raspberries, strawberries and blackberries are all excellent sources of sugar for fruit-wine making.

Flowers (rose, gorse, elderflower) and leaves (pine, oak leaf) are made into a tea and fermentable sugars are added. Vegetables, such as parsnip, need to be cooked to convert their starches into fermentable sugars.

Raw honey naturally has a very high concentration of sugars which when fermented results in an alcoholic drink called honey wine, or Mead.

Honey wine is not simply a honey-flavoured drink, the fermentation process creates a vast range of aromas and flavours so each batch will have a distinctive and unique character, that isn’t necessarily reminiscent of honey. Its dried and cooked fruit character with nutty complexity can be compared to the flor-aged styles of Sherry or Vin Jaune. It can be dry through to sweet, still or sparkling, oak-aged or flavour added through maceration with plants, fruits and spices.

To make about four litres of honey wine you’ll need just over 1 kilogram of honey, requiring a lot of very hard-working bees! Naturally therefore honey wine is only made on a very small scale forcing producers to focus on quality.

It is well understood that honey can smell and taste different depending on when, where and from what the bees collected the nectar. This suggests an intriguing potential for honey wine to express “terroir”, in a similar way to wine.

Melina, my (honey) wine of the month, is made entirely from Scottish honey. Only water and yeast are added, and no further flavourings are used. It hits 17% abv, similar to Sherry, which combined with its medium level of sweetness, gives it a silky, balmy and soothing texture. Melina delivers a memorable palette of aromas and flavours, baked apple, poached pear, dried orange, and lemon peel. Dried flowers, toasted almonds, cinnamon spice and sandalwood, add fragrance. Mushroom, woodsy notes, and a gentle muskiness offer savoury nuance.

I enjoyed Melina the most served in a white wine glass, just a little warmer than fridge temperature which ensured the aromas and flavours weren’t muted.

Svetlana, The Cheese Lady, specifically selected Melina to partner her emporium of artisanal farmhouse cheeses but I particularly loved it with the Anster, a crumbly cows milk cheese, its lively acidity perfectly balanced the richness of the honey wine. A smear of gooseberry purée added further tangy balance. Some dried and candied fruits, glazed nuts and a square of dark chocolate allowed the happiness to continue once the cheese was finished!