Food & Wine USA - (03)March 2019

59

BEE D’VINE

NA AYELE SOLOMON SONOMA, CALIFORNIA

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“NO ONE WAS REALLY DOING MEAD

IN WINE COUNTRY THE WAY I

WANTED TO: DOING A DRY VERSION,

AGING IT 15 MONTHS.”

—AYELE SOLOMON

WHAT IS WINE? Who says it has to be made from grapes?

Why not, Ayele Solomon might say, from honey?

Solomon, who was born in Ethiopia, is the founder

of Bee d’Vine, and from his base in Sonoma County he’s

channeling a winemaking tradition that goes back mil-

lennia. Whether you call it mead (England), aguamiel

(Mexico), t’ej (Ethiopia), or balché (ancient Maya, why

not?), honey wine has been around for several thou-

sand years. And it has probably, Solomon would tell you,

been misunderstood for nearly as long: “Everywhere you

go, there’s a culture of drinking mead, but it’s seen as a

farmer’s drink or a historic oddity.”

To clear up a few misconceptions: First, honey wines

are wine; the basic ingredients are honey, water, and yeast,

and they’re fermented in the same way that grape-based

wines are made (they’re not brewed; mead is not a beer).

Second, people tend to assume that anything made from

honey will be thick and sweet. Tasting the Bee d’Vine Brut,

Solomon’s dry cuvée, is a revelation: It smells of floral

honey but isn’t sweet at all. Instead it’s delicate and lightly

citrusy, with the flavor of honey but none of the sweetness.

Solomon grew up tasting t’ej, Ethiopian honey wine. On

a trip home several years ago, it dawned on him that one

way to save the country’s rainforests from being clear-

cut for crops would be to make the trees more valuable

through honey harvesting for wine. But the practical

difficulties of exporting Ethiopian honey wine to the U.S.

market were beyond daunting: “There was no wine indus-

try there, so essentially you’d have to be a millionaire

and set up an entire infrastructure.” So he moved his

concept to Sonoma. He’s now on his fourth vintage, mak-

ing both a dry and lightly sweet style, with a sparkling

cuvée on the way.

But he hasn’t forgotten that initial inspiration to play a

part in saving Ethiopia’s rainforests. “I hope there’s a way

to do it,” he says. “But it’s still a dream. First I have to get

people in the U.S. to start drinking honey wine!” RAY ISLE

BEE D’VINE BRUT ($39)

Solomon’s brut (or dry) wine deceives

the senses. It smells like citrusy honey

(it’s made from California orange

blossom honey) but isn’t sweet in the

slightest. Chilled down, it’s a delicious

and conversation-worthy aperitif.

BEE D’VINE DEMI SEC ($39)

Lightly sweet, with somewhat more

intensity than the brut version, this

crystal-clear honey wine with its

lingering flavors would be ideal with

fresh fruit desserts—or simply a

crisp-crackly square of baklava.

D’VINE DROPS

Solomon makes two honey wine cuvées, both of which are most easily

purchased through his website, beedvine.com. A sparkling version is

planned for later this year.

TAKE IT

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