Vine Speak

Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00 By Heather Muhleman Monday, 08 February 2010 19:57

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Start the Honeymoon Early

No one knows when the first wedding was but I’m fairly positive there was celebration involved. Weddings are times of tradition – family and friends brought together to commemorate the joining of two people as husband and wife. Where there is celebration, there is usually Champagne, or sparkling wine, as the only true bubblies that can be called Champagne are those made in Champagne, France. Recently, while helping my sister plan her wedding, I came across an interesting alternative to the Champagne toast. How about a mead toast?

Mead, or honey wine, is made from fermented honey and water. It might possibly be the oldest alcoholic beverage in the world and has been consumed by Egyptian pharaohs, Greek philosophers and European royalty, giving it the soubriquet “nectar of the gods.” Mead can be sweet, dry, fruity, spicy and even sparkling. There are hundreds of variants of honey wine ranging from slightly bitter Ethiopian T’ej, to sweet Finlandian Sima, to Mexico’s Acan, named for the Mayan God of wine.

These days, most of the meads Americans drink show up at medieval Renaissance fairs and festivals, since it was quite a staple in those times. And how does it relate to weddings? In medieval England, a family would make mead when a betrothal was arranged, many times taking place at the birth of the children. The mead would age and be drunk at the wedding years later, with the amount of wine and length of feast reflecting a family’s wealth. Sometimes the feast would last an entire month, or one moon phase, creating the “honeymoon.” In ancient Norwegian custom, the mead would also be consumed by the bride and groom for the first moon phase of their marriage, since the honey wine was thought to increase fertility, specifically, the conception of a son.

To sample this sweet nectar locally, head to the Long Island Meadery in Holbrook, where numerous varieties of mead are made. And if wedding plans are in your future, give mead a shot … nothing like starting the honeymoon a little early!

Cheers to great wine and happy marriages!