SOMM DAY
Modern Mead Meets the Sommelier: What You Need to Know
Sunday, June 23, 2019
Foyer - Sensory Building, Robert Mondavi Institute, UC Davis
$75 per person
Register here
Presenters
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Amina Harris, Director, Honey & Pollination Center, Robert Mondavi Institute, UC Davis |
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Dr. Andrew Waterhouse, Executive Director, Robert Mondavi Institute, UC Davis |
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Ash Fischbein, Owner, Sap House Meadery, Ossipee NH |
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Darrell Corti, Owner, Corti Bro's, Sacramento, CA. |
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David Block, Professor and Chair, Department of Viticulture and Enology, UC Davis |
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Gillian Balance, Master Sommelier, Education Manager, Treasury Wine Estates |
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Ken Schramm, Author, The Compleat Meadmaker; Owner and Head Meadmaker, Schramm’s Mead, Ferndale, Michigan |
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Patrick McGovern, Scientific Director, Biomolecular Archaeology Project Adjunct Professor, Anthropology; Penn Museum, Philadelphia, PA |
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Traci Dutton, Manager, Public Wine & Beverage Studies, Culinary Institute of America |
Agenda
8:00 a.m. Registration and Breakfast
Start the day with a sparkle: Orange Blossom Mead made méthode champenoise from Heidrun Meadery, Point Reyes.
9:00 a.m. Welcome, Introductions, and Overview of the Day
Amina Harris, Director; Honey and Pollination Center, Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, UC Davis
Dr. David Block, Chair, Department of Viticulture and Enology, Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, UC Davis
Dr. Andrew Waterhouse, Executive Director, Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, UC Davis
Traci Dutton, Manager, Public Wine & Beverage Studies, Culinary Institute of America
9:30 a.m. How Sommeliers Attack and Devour New Trends in Beverage
Gillian Balance, Master Sommelier, Education Manager, Treasury Wine Estates
10:00 a.m. The History of Mead: 9019 Years in 30 minutes
To understand this ancient beverage we need to understand its history and how it is made.
Patrick McGovern, Scientific Director, Biomolecular Archaeology Project; Adjunct Professor, Anthropology; Penn Museum, University of Pennsylvania
10:30 a.m. It All Starts with Honey
To understand the flavors of mead, you need to understand the individual flavors of honey. This presentation will introduce attendees to how honey is made, discuss how floral source affects the honey produced, and how each honey can create a totally unique mead.
Amina Harris
11:15 a.m. Break
11:30 a.m. Mead from Dry to Sweet
What is ‘traditional’ mead? This tasting will lead Sommeliers on an unusual path. Dry, Off-dry, Sweet and Brochet: Each mead produced from one mead maker with the exact same wildflower honey.
Traci Dutton
12:00 p.m. How to Taste Mead: A Vocabulary for Experts
Understanding how varietal honey can affect a traditional mead.
Ken Schramm; Author, mead maker and owner, Schramm’s Mead, Ferndale, MI
Ash Fischbein; Mead maker and owner, Sap House Meadery; Ossipee, NH
Traci Dutton
Amina Harris
12:30 p.m. Food for Thought: A Mead and Food Pairing Lunch
1:30 p.m. Q&A session
What do Somms want from mead makers?
What do Somms want to know?
What does the mead industry want from sommeliers?
2:00 p.m. Tour the Leed Platinum Teaching and Research Winery
2:30 p.m. Vertical Growth for the Discerning Meadery
Ken Schramm
3:30 p.m. Geeking Out with Barrel Aged Meads
Ash Fischbein
4:30 p.m. The Reckoning: Darrell Corti
An Informal tasting and ‘cocktail hour’
5:00 p.m. Closing, Survey, final taste