Heidrun Meadery
Gordon Hull ferments honey by its flower and finishes it in bottle the champagne way, on a Point Reyes dairy farm replanted as bee forage.1
Why go
Most mead is one drink. Heidrun treats honey the way a winemaker treats a grape, making naturally sparkling varietal meads (wine made from honey rather than grapes) using the traditional French Methode Champenoise.
1 Hull, the meadmaker, states the aim himself: The meadmaker's objective is to reveal the distinguishing characteristics, the essence, of every honey we ferment. Within honey's essence reside floral aromatic compounds, ranging from the primitive to the sublime, that are normally accessible only to nature's pollinators.
1 The old dairy was replanted so the bees have healthy, natural, yearlong forage,
which means the flowers and the ferment sit on the same ground.1 They have also been buying honey abroad with Brian Woerner of the World Honey Exchange, looking for varieties nobody has fermented yet.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: a flight, and taste the varietals against each other. The whole argument of the place collapses if you only drink one.1
- Avoid: driving out on spec. The tasting room takes reservations.1
What locals & experts say
- Gordon Hull, meadmaker, on what he is chasing:
floral aromatic compounds, ranging from the primitive to the sublime, that are normally accessible only to nature's pollinators.
1
Good to know
- Tasting room open 11am to 5pm, seven days, by reservation.1
- The meadery dates itself to 1997, which is its own claim on its own page.1
Verdict
should-visit — Almost nobody ferments honey by the flower it came from and then finishes it in bottle the champagne way, and the meadery says what it is after in the maker's own words rather than in tasting-note language. That specificity is what puts it above a stop and short of the top, because the only voice on the record is the meadery's own. Book before you drive out; the tasting room asks for it.