Wild Red Mead – Merlot Barrel Aged (12% ABV) is a gorgeous 3 year-old berry mead fermented off dry and silky smooth and matured for the last 12 months in French Merlot wine barrels to add intriguing structure and depth. An exceptional, unique mead, a lively, attractive drink with a decadent richness. As seen on celebrity chef, John Torode’s Ireland on the Food Network.

Enticing and warm, juicy with bright red and black fruit flavours from the Wexford blackcurrants and dark, sweet cherries, well balanced with attractive honey notes from the forest honey and caramel from the Bordeaux oak barrels. A luxurious, smooth texture with a fruity burst that explodes on the palate, soft low tannins and a clean finish. Winner of the Drink of the Year from the Irish Food Writers’ Guild in 2021. Delicious served at room temperature on its own or with fine food.

The beautiful label was inspired by the story of the “Wild Geese” Irish who emigrated in waves from Ireland to the continent at the end of the Jacobite wars and settled in France to start trading and making wine. Today, in Bordeaux, you can find the names of those resilient Irish emigrants on the streets and vineyards of the region – Lynch, Barton, Boyd, Phelan – alongside other trading connections to the wine ports of Ireland.

Kinsale in 18th century was a thriving port, one of several in Ireland licensed to import wines from the France, Spain, Portugal. The harbour and warehouses were full of barrels of the finest wines, ports and sherries. In a sense, we are completing the circle, bringing those precious barrels back to Ireland.

Share a bottle with friends and family. This is a mead you’ll want to come back to again and again.

All bottles hand numbered and signed.

Awards

Drink of the Year award from the Irish Food Writers’ Guild.

Mead Food Pairing

This mead shines with food such as roast rack of lamb and rosemary or mushroom pâté on thin cut toast, Prosciutto or Palma ham or artisan mini sausages or chipolatas.

This Product Contains

ABV: 12%

Storage

Store the bottles similar to wine, upright in a cool place away from direct sunlight and they should keep for at least two years.

Once opened, store the bottles upright in the fridge. If you a vacuum pump with wine bottle closures that pump out the oxygen, all the better. After that the flavour starts to change a little as the air gets to it. Good to drink still or use in cocktails or cooking.

The Merlot Barrel Aged Mead keeps up to 4 weeks if there’s any left by then.