Redstone Honey Wine With Pinot Noir Concentrate

Brewed by Redstone Meadery
Style: Mead
Boulder, Colorado USA

Dark berries in the aroma, strawberry, dark cherries, rich wine-like aromas, hints of vanilla with traces of sweet smoke. Pours amber peach, still. Very sweet, sweet strawberries and honey, hints of pepper spice with a tangy sour in the ending. Not my favorite.

Bottle at redlight redlight. The nose isn’t bad. A lot of rich clover honey up front. Behind it some oak and red wine. The flavor doesn’t bring out the best of the nose. In fact this tastes more like cheap sweet box wine than anything else. Fairly disappointing.

Clear amber of color without head. An aroma of honey, spice and sweets. A flavor of honey, spice and dry.

A commercially produced pymet - nice - production date July 2004 - hazy purplish pour - nose of honey (duh), a lot of soft herbal notes, light acidity, sweet, juicy red grapes, very light tannic character - the flavor is initially all sweet honey, but some notes of herbs swell up through the middle (mostly sage), as well a mild wildflowers - the qualities of the wine gradually build from under this, and the moderate tannins work well with a slightly vinegar-like acidity that develops - some sweetness returns in the end, combining with the wine to produce a flavor not unlike port - spicy, peppery alcohol in the finish - warming, but not boozy - not as refined as it could be, but quite tasty.

Bottle 50cl. [ Courtesy of Papsoe ]. Clear orange red color with virtually none head. Aroma is moderate to heavy honey, wine, alcohol, wood. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and light acidic with a average to long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily - syrupy, carbonation is flat, finish feel is moderate alcoholic. 100908

<b>July 2004 Production Date; Sampled November 2008</b>
Served lightly chilled into a large Cabernet wine glass. This mead is still and has a concentrated red color that has a bit of purple to it. When held up to the light it shows a clear, full, cherry red color. The aroma smells of honey with an expressive, bright berry note. The honey actually accentuates the vibrancy of the berry aromatics, pushing it almost into a candy realm; notes of fresh blackberries, a touch of strawberry, and lots of dark fruit make me think of... Ah there it is, I was trying to put my finger on it, but I finally figured out what this reminds me of; fruit cake, or more specifically the alcohol laden, concentrated, dried / candied fruit that one finds in fruit cake; fig, prunes, rum soaked raisin, lots of dried currant and notes that are quite similar to mince-meat pie. What an interesting aroma.

Lightly sweet up front, towards the middle a grape-skin tannin character contributes a bit of structure, this tannic note continues on and lingers in the finish. Lots of berry flavors abound in the flavor, though it does not have the fruit-cake like concentration found in the nose; this last is a good thing as that would likely have been too much. This finishes with a touch of warm alcohol that leaves a soft glow in the throat and belly. There also seems to be some spicy oak notes towards the finish that provides a touch of astringency. Hints of tobacco, a touch of apricot, ripe - slightly concentrated fig, blueberry, blackberry and maybe even a touch of chocolate in the finish at times is noticeable.

I like that this is not overly sweet, it definitely has enough sweetness to showcase the honey notes, but note enough to make this cloying. I also like how the piquant honey notes mix with the soft berry flavors of the Pinot grape. This is really good, certainly the best I have had from Redstone. I was beginning to wonder if they made a serious mead, this one certainly fits the bill, though I could see a characteristic oak touch kicking this up a notch (as long as it was a soft touch). Perhaps a touch too simplistic to be fantastic, but damn this is quite tasty.

Murky reddish brown, no head. Buttery, sweet port wine nose. Vinous flavor, grass, honey; sweet and syrupy. Warming buttery finish. Quite thin, not too sticky palate. Interesting mead.

Bottle (thanks to Papsoe for this one!). Nose is honey, with some alcohol strength. Mouth is sharply wine, brackish, honey, grape skin, tannin. Stings at the back of the throat, but not entirely unpleasent.