Mead’s back.
Rachel Lipman, a fifth-generation winemaker at Loew’s Vineyards, believes the top of wine with honey is fast approaching.
It’s a “very underrated” drink, Lipman said, at the Mount Airy, Maryland, winery owned by his grandfather Bill Loew.
Before World War II, Lvov (formerly a component of Poland, now a component of Ukraine) was an epicenter of the production of mead wine. In fact, the city was dotted with distilleries, breweries and mead. Holocaust survivor Bill Loew’s circle of relatives was the head of one of the region’s most successful pastries, generating and distributing this beloved wine in Europe since 1870.
Hidromiel, a popular drink in before-war Europe, long before its recent resurgence among hipsters who discovered that the drink was soaked in Game of Thrones.
“It’s a very complicated drink with a broad sorting formula like French wines,” Lipman said.
“Hydromiel” is a generic term for wine made from fermented honey. They come with cyser (hydromiel with apple juice) and pyment (hydromiel with grape juice). The mead is pre-beer and wine, according to the American Association of Mead Makers, and the drink has existed for centuries, only recently has there been an increase in ad production. In 2003, there were only 60 meaderies in the United States. Today, there are more than 450.
Lipman’s circle of relatives produces 4 meads in its product line, as well as nine others. Its apple and honey mead is a dry white made from local apples and wildflower honey and clover, perfect, said lipman, for Rosh Hashaná.
“Most people think mead is sweet, but it’s a stereotype,” he says.
When making wine, there will have to be a balance between sugar and acid; however, honey has low degrees of acid, making it difficult to produce with a taste that is not sweet.
The meads produced with grape juice or cider allow the mead to have a balance of sugar and acid.
“They’re tastier and more complicated when they’re dry,” Lipman explained.
Lipman’s circle of relatives produces meads that taste like ordinary table wines and, he says, may be older as elegant wine. His prolonged circle of relatives celebrates the Jewish holidays with meads for at least a decade or more.
Lipman grew up spending weekends in his grandparents’ 37-acre vineyard, riding his grandfather’s tractor while a young woman took care of the grapes with him. As a teenager, he worked with him on chromatographic tests until when a wine was finished and temporarily. He fell in love with chemistry, studied plant sciences at university and continued to make wine, approaching his Holocaust-surviving grandfather.
Bill Loew was only a teenager when the Nazis invaded Lvov and his family’s pastures were destroyed. For months, Loew remained hiding in a house. He eventually escaped to Hungary and joined the resistance movement. On a dangerous mission, with a secret message from Budapest to Bucharest, the 18-year-old was captured through border forces and sent to a political criminal in Budapest (Hannah Senesh was detained there at the same time). Then Loew was transported to Auschwitz. He survived a death march there and was released through the 99th Division of the US Army. But it’s not the first time At the age of 19.
After emigrating to the United States, Loew became an electrical engineer. After retiring, he opened Loew’s Vineyards in 1982, which is now part of Frederick’s Wine Route. Loew, 94, is still helping the vineyard, especially with the electrical disorders of the machines. His wife Lois is the face of the on-site tasting room.
The winery was one of the first in Maryland to close its tasting room when COVID-19 hit so lipman’s grandparents weren’t in danger, fortunately online liquor sales have been strong, since then it has reopened the winery following protocols of protection.
In the future, the 27-year-old hopes to increase her production and expand the tasting room by highlighting her family’s legacy and informing visitors of her long history in the wine and mead production sector.
“When other people come to the basement, my job is to make sure my grandfather’s story is rooted in everything we do. I need other people to see pictures of him in Budapest after his Holocaust survival and how he met my grandmother and bought and worked this land. He lost his circle of relatives and lived a wonderful tragedy, but he still has a very satisfying life,” he said.
Mead is such a flexible drink that it can be sweet, dry, bubbly or flat. Add ingredients such as espresso, grapefruit and wildflowers and it will have a multitude of characteristics for each and every palate. Here are some to try:
Breakfast Magpie through New Day Craft: This Indianapolis-based company manufactures artisanal mead and hard ciders. If you feel lazy, have a seasonal breakfast, a black raspberry mead with a touch of chocolate and espresso. Www. newdaycraft. com
Peach Mead from Wildside Winery – Kentucky doesn’t just make bourbon, this mead made with peaches and local honey will make you those last days of summer. Www. wildsidewinery. com
Stacey Pfeffer is a writer / editor living in North Westchester with her 3 children and their rescue dog, as well as a collection of ducks, deer, and chipmunks in her yard.
This item has been shipped!