Hello Honey Wine

San Francisco has a new honey wine tasting bar and we’ll happily drink to that!

Join us in extending a warm welcome to our newest Ferry Building Food Tour partner. Bee D’Vine features honey wine made by Ayele Solomon, who grew up drinking this unique drop in his native Ethiopia (where it is known as t’ej).

Bee D’Vine pairs the tradition of t’ej with modern California notes: organic honey, French oak, and Charmet-method bubbles.

Ayele, who studied environmental economics at UC Berkeley before returning to Africa and rediscovering honey wine, is keen to educate the public about the complexity, craft, and drinkability of what may well be the world’s oldest alcoholic beverage.

He explored the commercial potential of honey wine first in Ethiopia, then South Africa, before returning to the Bay Area and establishing the Sonoma-based Honey Wine Company, the parent corporation for the Bee D’Vine brand.

First, let’s clear up misconceptions about honey wine: Many only know the cloyingly sweet version served up at Renaissance Fairs. But well crafted honey wine can be as crisp and dry as a sauvignon blanc with fresh, floral, and fruity tasting notes, with hints of nuttiness.

That’s the case with Ayele’s premium fermented wines, which feature orange-blossom honey from California beekeepers. His products are already garnering appreciate nods from local press and ferry building patrons. Ayele also received a nod from Food & Wine in 2019 as one of 31 makers to love. Cheers to that.

According to a recent New York Times report, honey wine or mead, as it’s also known, is undergoing a brand transformation. In Brooklyn Bars it’s the next cool drink, despite being thousands of years old. The paper credits the popularity of “Game of Thrones,” which features mead drinkers, for the resurgence in interest in honey wine.

Fun fact: Ayele is so passionate about elevating honey wine to its rightful status as a wine lover’s beverage of choice that he even published a book about it: “The Celebrated Story of Honey Wine.” Imbibers interested in reading the electronic version can download it for free from his website. Better yet, come learn about the art and craft of honey wine on a Ferry Building Food Tour.