Nani Moon - Winter Sun

Winter Sun is a starfruit and passionfruit mead from Nani Moon Meadery in Hawaii.  This is a season mead that comes in 750mL bottles, is 14% ABV, and retails at their tasting room for $24.  

Winter Sun is made with all local Hawaiian ingredients; wildflower honey from the island of Kaua'i, starfruit, and lilikoi (passionfruit).  

To the best of my knowledge this is the only meadery in Hawaii, and what a cool opportunity to leverage the amazing local ingredients available: the tropical fruits, the interesting honeys.  

 First impression of this mead is the smell.  The nose is overflowing with juicy, tropical flavors of passionfruit, mango, starfruit, papaya, and white wine.  There's a hint of alcohol and acetone, but not overpowering.  

The taste follows fairly similar to the smell.  There's less fruit on the tongue and more white wine characteristics:  green apple, a hint of acetone, pinot grigio-esque.  It's also a pretty dry mead, so it finishes almost like a sauvignon blanc; dry, grassy, citrus, and a bit of oak.  I can tell that the province of this mead is rooted in wine-making and that I would venture to guess that the mead makers came from the wine world.  This mead drinks so much like a dry white wine it's unbelievable.  

If you are a fan of those wines this is a wonderful bridge into the mead world.  It's also a great deal at $24 for a 750mL.  But honestly this mead left me wanting a little more.  While it was very enjoyable as a wine, it lacked the depth of honey I look for in a mead. I also think this mead could benefit from more forward fruit.  If you have these amazing tropical fruits locally available they should really be the star of the mead.