|
My initial meeting with world renowned winemaking consultant Cesar Baeza, Wine Master at
Brotherhood, America’s Oldest Winery was to
discuss the concept. “Can honey be cold fermented, much the same as
Riesling, to maintain the fresh fruity flavors and floral aromas in
the honey?” “I am not sure.” was Cesar’s response, and thus began
the process.
After working with honey and levels of alcohol and residual
sweetness, we decided that a lower alcohol mead that was kept cool
during fermentation and with a remaining sugar level that was sweet
was the wine I was looking for. … And
Carroll’s Mead was born.
“Most Mead wines are boiled during fermentation. This excessive
heat can change the properties in the honey, yielding a strong,
almost scorched flavor, much like that of a dark beer where the
barley malt is roasted.
The difference between
Carroll’s Mead and other commercially
produced meads could be equated to the difference between Eiswein
and Oktoberfest!”
During the first calendar year in production, 2006, we introduced
Carroll’s Mead into the markets of Northern Virginia and Up State
New York, with a limited entry into Maryland and New Jersey.
Carroll’s Mead can now be found in specialty wine shops in each of
these markets and in Pennsylvania, as well as some up scale grocery
stores in Virginia.
Carroll’s Mead was chosen to be the exclusive Mead served at the
2006
New York Renaissance Faire, where it was very popular. The
result of that presence was instant demand for
Carroll’s Mead in
States surrounding the SE New York area, such as PA, NJ, RI and CT.
We are happy to report that
Carroll’s Mead will once again be the
exclusive Mead served at
NYRF.
2007 will be spent working on market development using in store
tastings and other events where we can expose
Carroll’s Mead to
consumers in PA, MD, DE, VA, NJ and NY. |
