June 21, 2006

Edmonton... Albertans will soon be able to enjoy honey wine, made in Alberta.

"The interest in specialty wine products is increasing among Albertans," said Gordon Graydon, Minister of Gaming. "This is a great opportunity for Alberta's beekeepers to expand their production. Albertans will now have more wines to choose from than they've ever had before."

The Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission has added mead (honey wine) to the list of products that can be produced, packaged and sold directly from Alberta farms. This move responds to a proposal from the Beekeepers Commission and builds on the creation of the cottage wine industry announced by government last year. Since February 2005, cottage wineries have been able to manufacture wine primarily made from fruit and sold from the farm gate.

Doug Horner, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development said, "This agreement is tremendous for the cottage wine industry and beekeepers in Alberta. It will create real value-added, made-in-Alberta opportunities for producers and will help in strengthening the local economies of our rural communities. For example, this change may lead to even more diversification for beekeepers in other honey products such as candles, cosmetics and lotions."

"The Alberta Beekeepers are excited to have this opportunity to provide a unique quality alcoholic beverage using our premium Alberta honey," said Cherie Andrews, Chair of the Cottage Industry Mead Committee with the Alberta Beekeepers Commission. "We look forward to the day that, with the fruit growers, we will have a vibrant Alberta wine industry and be able to offer wine tours at multiple wineries throughout the province."

Mead, which consists of three simple ingredients: honey, sugar and yeast, is one of the world's oldest alcoholic beverages. It relies on time and technique to transform its components into a great tasting wine.

The honey industry in Alberta is comprised of approximately 700 beekeepers and 250,000 bee colonies, producing more honey than any other province in Canada.

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Attached: Backgrounder about the mead/honey-wine industry.

Backgrounder

• Mead is the first fermented beverage of the world, earlier than wine or beer
• It is believed that during the Middle Ages, the English tradition of honeymoons began with the gifting of honey wine to the newly wedded couple so things would begin as sweetly as possible
• Mead is often referred to as the Nectar of the Gods, or the Drink of Love
• Until the late middle ages both meads and sparkling meads were highly popular beverages, especially in northern regions of Europe, where wine grapes could not easily be grown
• Mead is produced in countries such as England, Poland, Northern France, Germany and Russia. In Africa, it is consumed in vast quantity
• Sweeter meads tend to go well with spicier foods while dry meads are excellent served with delicate dishes such as chicken, duck, fish and calamari
• Most meads benefit from 2-3 years of aging. This is for medium-bodied meads with an alcohol content of 11-12 per cent
• It takes approximately 1.35 kilograms of honey to produce 4.5 litres of medium-sweet mead
• A good mead can age up to 15 years, either in oak wooden barrels or bottles
• A good honey bee colony can produce a surplus of 90 kilograms of honey annually in Alberta

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