So are you saying to yourself “what, pray tell, is a melomel”? Melomel is mead (a type of wine made from honey) plus fruit – and, more specifically, blueberry mead is a “bilbemel”. We’re big mead fans: Sky River Meadery (https://skyrivermead.com/) in Washington state produces some exceptionally fine mead that tastes like bright, fresh honey – with a delicious fruity note, similar to the fragrance of a juicy concord grape – in a glass. It’s crisp, slightly sweet, and it captures the essence of perfect summer days and industrious bees collecting wild pollen. In short, it’s spectacular. We have yet to find a comparable mead available locally, so we’re taking mead-making into our own hands. Continue reading “Wine Chronicles: Blueberry Mead (Melomel)”
One of my go-to sources for recipes as a starting point for many of my homemade country wines is the little purple book that came with my winemaking equipment starter kit: Raymond Massaccesi’s “Winemaker’s Recipe Handbook”. Typically, when I try a new recipe, I follow it exactly as it is written; the next time around, all bets are off! One of the first recipes I tried was for Orange Wine…oranges are delicious as flavoring for secondary ferments, so I guessed that the wine would also be a winner. And it was. It turned out almost cordial-like: a beautiful amber color reminiscent of sherry, with a pleasing warmth and complex flavor. It didn’t scream “orange”, but the mystery of it made it even more enjoyable. 
