By Jan Cox
Nestled on a small piece of land at the corner of 3rd and Ash streets in Westwood, you will find a unique, family run micro-winery that creates Mountain Meadows Mead.
Mead, known in olden days as the “nectar of the gods,” is a delicious natural wine made from honey. This winery produces several kinds of mead from the traditional to those with fruit such as cranberry, cherry, and agave.
During my visit to this highly interesting business, I met with the founder, Ron Lunder who spoke enthusiastically about this family venture.
In 1987 Ron and his wife Peggy Fulder, along with their three children, the twins, Zeke and Sonya, and younger son Nils took an extended trip to New Zealand in order to check out the possibility of emigrating to that country to create a business.
During those 10 weeks, they spent some time with a bee keeper who was looking for a partner, but lucky for us, they decided against the move and came back to Westwood with the idea of using honey to create mead. The business began at the home brew level, where the product was shared with friends. But then they entered their product into the State Fair and received 2nd and 3rd place medals.
Ron and Peggy soon felt that they could create a business here and bought the lot in the spring of 1992. By the fall of 1995, they had completed their building, were licensed, and had created two products—Cranberry Mead and Sierra Nectar.
I asked Ron about the process of creating mead and was shown around the winery as he spoke about the steps involved. First the honey, which comes in barrels, is dissolved in water in a holding tank until it has a concentration similar to grape juice of 20-25% sugar. This solution is filtered to a fermentation tank. Crushed fruit goes into the solution at this point for fruit meads. Wine yeast completes the solution which then ferments in a large tank for about 3 weeks. This tank is refrigerated which creates a longer lasting mead with better results. When fermentation is complete the mead is stored in another tank or in oak barrels, depending on the kind, until it becomes settled and clear which takes 3-4 months. Then it is ready for bottling.
The family also does its own bottling and labeling. Their son, Zeke, has created several beautiful labels for the winery.
As we visited in the comfortable tasting room at the winery, my eyes were drawn to the many medals hanging on the wall. Ron proudly told me about them. In 2002, At Planet Buzz in Chicago, they attended the first International Mead Festival and were the only producers to receive 3 medals—gold medals for their traditional Honeymoon Nectar and their Spiced Mead, and a silver for their Cranberry Mead. Since that time they have gone on to win medals each year, many of them gold. They also won gold medals in a National Women’s Wine competition entitled “Wines Women Want” where all judges were women.
Further information can be found on all their meads at mountainmeadowsmead.com, a wonderful website created by their son Zeke.
It must be noted that Mountain Meadows Mead has a wine to suit many tastes including the award winning sweet Honeymoon Nectar, the semi-sweet Agave and Sierra Nectar Wildflower meads, the sweet and tart Cranberry and the dry Cherry Mead.
Ron is committed to using local honey and receives his honey from Richard Schall of Honey Lake Valley and Fred Beeman from Eagleville in Surprise Valley. He uses honey that has been aged for a year. Each barrel weighs over 600 lbs and they use about 5 tons a year. Although they cannot say that the honey is organic since it is from wildflowers, they use organic fruit whenever possible—such as their certified organic agave.
The Trickster’s Treat Agave Mead is not only another medal winner but also one of my favorites. Its semi-dry finish is great with grilled food and can substitute for tequila for a lighter Margarita. I once brought a bottle to an Easter dinner with friends and found that it went beautifully with the lamb that was served.
When asking Ron for any further thoughts, he spoke about unintended consequences in our lives. In 1987 he had never thought about a wine business. Then he spent time with a beekeeper where the focus was on honey. This chance meeting has been both a blessing and a curse he says with a smile. As a result of learning about beekeeping he realized that honey was a good commodity that could be considered for a business venture. This led to the creation of what he calls a boutique product which must be unique in order to sell.
It is offered in many restaurants and even though it is not really a supermarket item, because of the remote location of the winery, it can be found in local markets in Chester, Quincy, Westwood, Susanville, and Greenville.
Ron and Peggy are self distributors and travel throughout Northern California, Oregon and Washington. One of their largest markets is in Portland, Oregon.
I found Ron to be a creative adventurer in the field of mead making. He has taken courses in preparation for the business and has also taught himself what he needs to know. He is always looking at how to improve or to utilize honey in new and exciting ways.
Next time you want to enjoy some “nectar of the gods,” look for their label in your favorite grocery store or call (530) 256-3233 to order your Gold Medal Meads. You can also go on-line to find out more at www.mountainmeadowsmead.com.
Finally, keep a watch out for their annual fall open house for some good tasting and a chance to visit with Ron and Peggy and stock up on wine for your own self or for holiday gifts.
