Australian Mead and Honey Wine

Australian Mead Made in the Hunter Valley

Mead, also known as honey wine, is one of the world’s oldest fermented drinks. One of the earliest known fermented honey beverages was discovered in ancient Chinese pottery, dating back thousands of years, and was made from a mixture of honey, rice and fruit. Today, mead is perhaps most famously associated with Vikings, who enjoyed it alongside other cultures throughout history.

At Honey Wines Australia, we are passionate about bringing this ancient drink into the modern world. Our range includes traditional honey mead as well as a growing selection of unique and unusual flavours.

Honey Wines Australia is an independent Australian meadery based in Broke, in the beautiful Hunter Valley region of NSW. Our connection with honey began with beekeeping, and while our focus today is on making mead, our appreciation for the incredible work of bees remains at the heart of what we do.

To produce the honey needed for a single bottle of mead, bees collectively visit an extraordinary number of flowers and can fly thousands of kilometres. It’s a remarkable journey that begins in the hive and eventually ends in your glass.

Visit our Hunter Valley cellar door to discover what mead tastes like and sample a selection of traditional and flavoured honey wines, or order online for delivery to most locations across Australia.

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More Than Just Mead

Honey Wines Australia began with a passion for bees, honey and mead, but over the years our range has grown into something much more.

Alongside our handcrafted Australian mead, you’ll find a selection of raw honey and unique honey products, traditional Viking drinking horns, collectable knives and other interesting products inspired by history, craftsmanship and the natural world.

Whether you’re discovering mead for the first time, searching for a unique gift or looking for something a little different, we hope you’ll find something to enjoy.

Based in Broke in the Hunter Valley, NSW, you can visit our cellar door or shop online with delivery available across Australia.

More Mead in Every Bottle

We believe mead is something worth sharing, which is why our traditional mead is available in a full-sized 750ml bottle rather than the smaller 375ml bottles commonly used for mead.

A 750ml bottle gives you twice as much mead to enjoy, whether you’re sharing a bottle with friends, serving it at a celebration or simply keeping a bottle on hand for yourself.

When comparing the price of different meads, remember to compare like for like. A smaller bottle can look less expensive at first glance, but the price per bottle doesn’t tell you how much mead you’re actually getting.

750ml of Australian mead, made to be shared.

Why Honey Wines? Why Not Just Mead?

You might be wondering why we’re called Honey Wines Australia rather than simply “Mead Australia”.

The simple answer is that mead and honey wine are interchangeable terms. Mead is made by fermenting honey with water, in much the same way that traditional wine is made by fermenting grapes. The term “honey wine” simply helps explain what mead actually is.

As mead maker Ken Schramm explains in The Compleat Meadmaker, the terms “mead” and “honey wine” are commonly used interchangeably. It’s an excellent book, by the way — but I digress!

There’s also a second reason for the name: marketing.

For thousands of years, people have called this drink mead. The problem is that not everyone has heard of it. “Honey wine”, on the other hand, gives people an immediate idea of what they’re looking at.

So while mead is what we make, Honey Wines Australia is what we called the business — because we think it’s a little easier to understand when you’re discovering mead for the first time.