Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/670021
w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m M a y - J u n e 2 016 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 8 5 m a k e e n o u g h r i g h t n o w. " H e serves more than 50 accounts in Arizona, distributes in Iowa and ships to 35 states plus Washing- ton, D.C. Superstition's mead and cider has been in Singapore and Tokyo, and is currently distributed to Thailand and Denmark. He esti- mates there are 250 wineries mak- ing mead, and about 150 meaderies focusing solely on mead in the Unit- ed States alone. H e r b e r t s a y s o f S c h r a m m , "Ratebeer.com recently named Ken the best mead maker in the world. The quality of his mead is only outdone by the quality of his character." He credits Schramm's book for getting so many people into the business. Herbert and Jenn are also found- ing members of the American Mead Makers Association. He sits on the board and is active in working with the AMMA legislative committee regarding mead taxation, formula- Meadists also like "Making Wild Wines and Mead," by Richard Gulling, and "Make Mead Like a Viking," by Jereme Zimmerman. Aside from books, a sure sign of the mead movement's acceptance into the mainstream of fermenta- tion is the fact that, last year, UC Davis began running a series of courses in mead at the university's Honey and Pollination Center at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science (honey.ucdavis. edu/mead). The business-focused course (one of the choices in the series), which includes presentations on branding, creating a business plan, winery design, working with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, along with several case studies, is headed up by Amina Harris, director of the Honey and Pollination Center. Lectures fea- ture mead experts from across the country as guest speakers, includ- tion and labeling issues. The cou- ple also publishes the journal titled American Mead Maker. They've traveled all over the world, includ- ing Wales and Copenhagen, visiting meaderies and sharing mead lore. You could say he's a man who likes to burn the candle at both ends. EDUCATION Several books have been written about mead in the modern era, the most widely distributed of which is Schramm's aforementioned "The Compleat Meadmaker: Home Pro- duction of Honey Wine from Your First Batch to Award-Winning Fruit and Herb Variations," which was published in paperback in 2003. Another book, by Steve Piatz, "The Complete Guide to Making Mead," came out in July 2014. It's generally considered to be a good complement (and somewhat of an update) to Schramm's work. ( ... and we can prove it ) All closure companies talk about controlled oxygen performance, but only VinPerfect offers real performance data and has a library of wines that allow you to taste the difference for yourself. Contact us to experience the unmatched level of control offered by VinPerfect's SmartCap TM . sales@vinperfect.com | (707) 252-2155 | www.vinperfect.com Quality. Control. Wi n e ' s Fi r s t P e r f e c t C l o s u r e