Wines from the BC Islands
By Doug Sloan
Tucked up Euston Rd on Hornby Island , Middle Mountain Mead is surrounded by beehives in fields of lavender, terraces of black currants, apple trees and grapes. Helen Grond and Cam Graham's wines are all meads - honey wines made from honey and water and infused with herbs, fruits, and spices.
Cyser is the name for mead made with apples and this one is essentially organic. Middle Mountain Apple Cyser (+366237) $18.00/750ml is slightly off-dry and tastes a lot like traditional English cider.
Being organic, it should be refrigerated once opened and sipped within three months of purchase.
Even with thousands of bees doing their part, more traditional meads require enormous amounts of honey to turn into wine. Consequently these sweeter treasures are generally bottled in 375ml halves, although some of the less sweet meads are in 750ml wine bottles.
Many winelovers have preconceptions that get in the way of enjoying - or even trying! - sweeter wines, whether made from grapes or honey. Middle Mountain Alpenglow (+87056) $20/750ml can help shake those misconceptions. Semi-sweet Alpenglow is richly aromatic, spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. Middle Mountain Lavender Cranberry Mead(+384735) $18.00/375ml has a touch of lavender combined with the zingy “bite” of cranberries. Slightly sweet, this of course is fabulous served with the traditional Turkey and turns every day into Thanksgiving.
Impossible to forget once tasted Middle Mountain Wild Harvest Mead (+384743) $22/375ml is a sweet lavender-scented infusion of salal berry, oregon grape, and blackberry. Sip solo or use sparingly (…saving some to serve with the food!) to baste and sauce roasted cornish hens stuffed with wild rice.
Prettily pink Middle Mountain Plum Rhubarb (+98863) $22/375ml is a sweet dessert wine with the luscious taste of ripe plums and the tartness of fresh rhubarb. Try it with barbecued teriyaki salmon!
Reasonably unique among refreshment beverage alcohols Middle Mountain Green Tea Elixir (+384727) $18/750ml is “dry”, intensely herbal and aromatic. Made with ginger and a blend of Sencha and Jasmine teas it is perfect with Asian foods.
Middle Mountain Black Mead (+452961) $22 / 750ml, is based on their own home-grown blackcurrants and finished in a semi-sweet style. Ribena should taste this good!
Doug Sloan writes WineWise which appears weekly in the North Islander weekend newspaper in Campbell River, B.C. Doug's website WineWise at: http://www.geocities.com/douglas_sloan/
Also see :
History of BC wines
London WInery
Vincor International
HIstory of Icewine
