Sulfites, Kosher, and Frequently Asked Qs
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1. The biggest change is that credit cards will be verified and charged when you place orders. Please double check your information for accuracy.
2. Shipping tags are generated straight from your information. Please include all Suite/Apt numbers!! Email or call us right away if you need to make address changes. Check our Shipping Policy for more info.
3. Currently this site is running on both www.honeyrun.com and www.honeyrunwinery.com. Clicking on some of the links will take you to the www.honeyrunwinery.com addresses. They are both secure, operate identically, and are directed to us.
4. We will keep fleshing out some of the information as we get time and feedback.
5. We hope you like the new layout!!
Sulfites are preservatives, specifically anti-oxidants. Most wineries add sulfites as an easy way to kill wild yeasts on fruit and to keep wine from browning (like sliced apples do) or acquiring unwanted caramel flavors.
Many people have some sensitivity to sulfites such as headaches from small amounts of wine, especially white wine (Do you get "champagne headaches"? Sparkling wines tend to have two to three times the sulfites as a regular wine!) Some people are severely allergic to sulfites.
HoneyRun Honey Co. has been in the natural foods industry since 1982. We make our honeywines with extra care, not preservatives, so that you can enjoy a more natural wine. When we have our wines lab tested, the results are usually 0 - 2 parts per million sulfites detected (compare that to 90 - 120 parts per million as the standard level added to finished wine. Thankfully, many Organic wineries make wine with about 40 parts per million at bottling.)
We used to joke about tying a packet of sulfites onto the neck of the bottle like the spiced salt for tequila or the mulling spices for mead; the packet would say, "If you really miss the headache, stir this in."
HoneyRun Honeywine is supervised by the Orthodox Union OU. OU recently bought Kosher Overseers of America, our previous Kosher supervision. Until our labels sell through, they will have the half moon K symbol of Kosher Overseers, though our LOC is from OU. www.ou.org Our wine is Kosher Pareve, but not Kosher for Passover.
After 20 years of selling a wonderful natural gooey sweet product to wonderful customers, Honey Run no longer sells honey. We hope you will find other sources of natural tastey honey.
It's an inside joke that we'll let you in on. If you've met John, then you know that he looks like that stereotypical Norsk, brooding, helmetted Viking. John's original homebrew mead had a label with Ragnar and his trusted Vikings on the prow of their ship. The wording was very outlandish and humorous, making claims of restorative properties that the BATF would never approve in writing.
When we redeveloped the straight mead, it was so different from our fruit varieties that we wanted the label to look completely different from those. The Viking graphic re-emerged, and our design files were named "Ragnar's Back!" The word Reserve is mostly a reference to where it all started, but it's also the only word that makes the following line funny "As if Ragnar would have any reservations."
So, if you want our most popular and accessible wine, grab the Blackberry. Cheers!
Some theorists believe that prehistoric humans ended their nomadic ways to settle down and grow crops because wine and beer were too heavy to move from place to place (the root of civilization). Try a search on "mead" for more information.
"Mead - It was the drink of red-bearded Viking and sloe-eyed sorceress. It was already an ancient beverage when Aristotle drank it, already steeped in mythological mystery when Arthur toasted his Knights Templar".-- "Mad About Mead" by Pamela Spence
"Mead is honey wine. It is made when honey is diluted and allowed to ferment. Mead is thought by many to have been the first alcoholic beverage made by man; there are many reasons why this might be true. Ancient men in Europe and Africa had no sugar and relatively few fruits. In fact, the diets of people of the Egyptian, Greek and Roman Empires, evan at their peaks, importance as a sweet, but it was one of the few things from which an alcoholic beverage could be made". -- "Making Mead (Honey Wine) History, Recipes, Methods and Equipment" by Roger A. Morse
"Among the ancients mead was not merely drunk as a wine, a liquor to refresh and stimulate, and therefore valuable as such, but it was also partaken of as something which in itself had magical and indeed sacred properties. As a result, it comes about that we find mead, its raw material honey, and even the creature which provides it, the bee, all holding high places in the sacred mythologies of olden times. Thus honey was considered a 'giver of life', and the bee was associated with the souls of men, and was a messenger of the gods. Honey was believed to have come down from Heaven as a dew, and was gathered from the flowers by the bees". -- "Brewing Mead - Wassail! In Mazers of Mead" by Robert Gayre
"Of Meade: Mead is mad of honny and water boyled both togyther; yf it be fyred and pure, it preserveth helth; but it is not good for them the whiche have the Ilyache or the Colycke. - Andrew Borde, "The Regyment, or a Dyetary of Helth", 1542" -- "A Sip Through Time, A Collection of Old Brewing Recipes" by Cindy Renfrow
"Mead, as everyone knows, is a pleasant, alcoholic drink made by fermenting honey and water with yeast. Of all the crafts of mankind, mead-making is almost certainly the oldest. It is likely that mead was made even before the wheel was invented. Cave paintings of primitive stone-age men depict the collection of honey from bee colonies, and any addition of water to this would automatically produce a mixture which could be fermented by wild yeasts. The discovery of alcohol almost certainly occurred in this chance manner, and spread to all parts of the world". -- "Making Mead: Metheglin, Hippocras, Melomel, Pyment, Cyser" by Bryan Acton and Peter Duncan
Here are some of the things that happy customers are telling us about HoneyRun Honeywine and honeyrun.com:
(Most of the customers who are less than thrilled live in States where we cannot legally send the wine, or expect Saturday and Sunday to count as shipping days - not so.)
Excellent: I REALLY ENJOYED THE BLACKBERRY WINE, IT WAS VERY FRUITY. I WILL BE ORDERING MORE IN THE NEAR FUTURE. THANKS SO MUCH.
Good: I have not bought things over the 'net too much before and I do appreciate that this was a very easy experience. Thank You HoneyRun
Excellent: Very fast turnaround time from when I placed my order to when I received my package. The wine is as good as advertised! I will order again, and have passed the link on to friends and family.
Good: Responded to my email promptly, no problems.
Excellent: Items were delivered in pristine condition.
Excellent: VERY HELPFUL IN PLACING MY ORDER AND SHIPPING THE WINE, AND THE WINE IS WONDERFUL
Good: I just have to tell you how much I like the wine you sent. It came just fine, quickly and easily. I didn't have a bad time ordering over the website. So, thanks again.
Excellent: the process was very quick and easy. The product arrived professionally packed and secure to ensure un-damaged product. I look forward to future business with them... While visiting a friend in Sacramento I tried your Blackberry Honeywine and thought it was fantastic. Thank you.
Excellent: Worked with me to procure the products I wanted. Very good customer service.
Excellent: the delivery arrived quickly, and was also packaged very securely. Plus, the Cranberry Honeywine is absolutely delicious!
Excellent: honey run is an excellent product with excellent service thanks
Excellent: As always a great product delivered on time...
Excellent: My mom and dad made elderberry wine at home in the 1940s I'm glad I found someone sane enough to make practical and sensible wine yippee!!!
Hi I wanted to say your fruit meads are really good and crisp, I think the one I am ordering now will be awesome!
We tried some of your Cherry (purchased from Tom's Farm last month) and it was delicious! What a difference in a honey wine vs. flavored grape wines. We're looking forward to trying the other varieties.
This is my third order from you and we are very pleased with your product and service.
very excited to try these out! not a huge grape wine fan! thanks!
Thank you for offering an alternative in wine for those of us sulfite-sensitive folks who miss our wine! I'm looking forward to opening my first bottle of wine, without fear, in many years.
I got you one of the elderberry wines and I am going to try the Blackberry. I already know the elderberry wine is great. That is why I am getting two bottles!!
Excellent product, wonderful and fast service.
California and Oregon. Available for shipment AND in stores, like Co-ops, Whole Foods Market, Nugget Markets, Wild Oats, New Leaf, Henry's, Jimbo's, and many other natural food stores. Other stores in CA include Bolster's Ranch in Apple Hill in Camino, Witch Creek in Carlsbad, Harper's Ferry in Yuba City, Tom's Farm in Corona, and Hadley's Farms in Cabazon. If you don't find them there, call us at 530-345-6405.
New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut: toll free 877-ORGANIC or 800-877-6655 Organic Vintages
Washington: You can order wine direct from us or look for it in stores.
Spokane: (509) 951-1808 Great Micros.
Vancouver: (360) 693-8251 Stein.
Seattle and the rest of Washington: (800)767-6366 Odom.
Florida: Tree of Life Distributing mailbox@treeoflife.com Specify your town and that you are looking for HoneyRun wine.
Ohio: 614-543-0080 Natural-State Wines Visit their web page! naturalstatewine.com
Montana: available at Bozeman Co-op, The Good Food Store in Missoula 406-728-5823, and Vintage Sellers in Great Falls 406-452-8065 jill.wines@home.com Winegardners can distribute it to licensed stores (406)582-8739.
Michigan: available at the Keweenaw Co-op Store in Hancock and Whole Foods Market in Ann Arbor. Ask around for it - it helps us expand into other stores.
North Carolina: Call Owls Nest Trading (910) 278-1804.
Virginia: Owls Nest Trading Co. owlswine2@aoline.com 910-278-9238(fax 910-278-9954) Be sure to include the name of your town.