Terroir and Mead

Things are busy in the mead world, and there are lots of people who are yearning to learn more about mead, how it’s made, and what the quality spectrum in mead looks like. That is very exciting.   This is a look at the sometimes-controversial concept of terroir, and a consideration of how, or if, it applies to mead. Terroir is a French term from the world of wine that is used to describe how a sense of place is reflected in the makeup of a wine. Terroir reflects the geology, geography and climatic conditions, and how they interact with the vines to produce the grapes used to make wine from a given location. The term is also used to communicate both the long term and immediate impacts of vineyard and winery practice on wines. Terroir is why a Chardonnay from Burgundy is different from a Chardonnay from Napa Valley, California or the Colchagua valley of Chile.   So, what does this have to do with mead? Well, rather a lot, really. Since Jonathon White, Mary Riethof, Mary Subers, and Irene Kushnir completed their USDA technical bulletin on Composition of American Honeys in 1962, we have known that even honeys from the same floral source from different locations are dramatically different. They are different in flavor, aroma, and chemical make-up.  Their sugar balances are different, the acidity is different, and the water in the nectar and that the bees consume for their own needs are different. More recent research in Spain, at Ohio State University, and elsewhere is revealing that amino acid profiles and aroma and flavor compound levels are different.   The same is true for the fruits and spices we use in our meads. Cherries from Traverse City will differ from those grown in Washington State, and cherries from a southwest-facing slope on the Old Mission Peninsula will differ, even if only slightly, from those grown on a north-facing slope of the Leelanau Peninsula. Soil types, sun exposures, fertilization practices, and harvesting times and techniques will all have significant bearing on the quality of the fruit produced.   Those in the coffee trade have been keen to these subtle qualitative differences for years. They have been cultivating relationships with growers who have great “terroir” in their beans. Point sourcing has allowed coffee roasters to deliver beans with distinctive mouth feel, acidity, aromatic character and finish. Side-by-side tasting of coffees from nearby or distant sources provides a fascinating and revealing showcase for these attributes.   And what, then, does this mean to mead makers? First and foremost, it is our obligation to do the legwork to identify and procure the best ingredients we can find. Then, it is our obligation to do everything we can to capture and deliver the wonderful and eclectic characteristics of our honey and other ingredients with the greatest authenticity and precision we can muster.   In some regards, honey and mead represent a huge challenge for reflecting a sense of place by comparison with wine. One way to express the terroir of a winemaking location is to allow the grapes to ferment with the naturally occurring yeast brought on the fruit from the field to the winery. Honey, though, has an incredibly high osmotic pressure, and is very inhospitable to microorganisms like the yeast strains that ferment wine. It is hazardous at best to utilize the native yeasts that can survive in honey to ferment our mead. This may make the challenge of regional authenticity more difficult. It may mean taking a shot at fermentations with the yeast that comes in on the fruit we use to make Schramm’s Mead.  It may mean using ingredients that are harder to obtain, such as honey varieties with huge and unique aromatic signatures. It can also mean locating ingredients that are more difficult to deal with – fresh fruits with extremely short seasons, for instance. And then we must know and adhere to those methods that maximize the contributions our ingredients make to the flavor and aroma of our mead.   At Schramm’s the shortened version of this philosophy is “Quality and Fidelity.” We seek out the best possible ingredients, and do what we must to insure that our mead delivers their characteristics as faithfully and accurately as it can. Mead makers have only scratched the surface of how we can express the personality of our local bounty, but the writing of that book will be a truly compelling process to observe. We’re getting started at Schramm’s, and many others in the world of mead are working on chapters of their own. ©2014, Ken Schramm