Demi Sec
- Semi-sweet
- Still
- 12.5% ABV
- Clover honey
The flagship: a still, semi-sweet honey wine with enough freshness to stay out of dessert-wine territory.
A reader-supported honey wine guide
The best honey wine, and everything worth knowing about it
Honey wine is mead: honey, water and time. We find the bottles worth your money, explain how dry, semi-sweet and sparkling styles differ, and show you where to buy them online.
- Dry, semi-sweet and sparkling
- Scores and sources cited
- Independent medals, not ours
Start here
Three honey wines to try first
One semi-sweet, one dry, one sparkling. All three are made in Sonoma from nothing but raw honey and spring water, and each has a Beverage Testing Institute gold medal to its name: one published on Tastings.com, two on the producer's awards list.
Disclosure: we earn a commission if you buy through links to our partner wine shops, at no extra cost to you. Links to Bee d'Vine are ordinary links at the moment and earn us nothing. How this works.
Brut
- Dry
- Still
- 12.5% ABV
- Clover honey
Proof that honey wine does not have to be sweet: dry, smooth and built for the dinner table.
Brut Sparkling
- Dry
- Sparkling
- 11.5% ABV
- Orange blossom honey
A dry, bready sparkling honey wine with a 90-point gold medal from the Beverage Testing Institute.
All picks, by style and budget or compare every bottle in one table →
Shop wine
Grape wines for honey wine fans
Icewine, late harvest Riesling, Moscato and other sweet wines share a lot with honey wine, and unlike mead they are easy to order from a big wine shop. Picks from our partner retailers, by category.
2015 Pondview Vidal Icewine
- Ice wine
- Very sweet
- Canada
Honeycomb and honeyed-fruit notes in a naturally concentrated icewine, a natural step for honey wine fans.
Kascadia Wine Merchants says: Vidal icewine opening with apricot, dried mango, honeycomb and candied citrus peel, rich and full-bodied with a long honeyed finish.
WineAlign 91 (as listed by Kascadia Wine Merchants)
$30 375 ml · checked October 2026
Check price at Kascadia Wine Merchants 
Far Niente Dolce 2021
- Late harvest dessert wine
- Sweet
- California
A half bottle with honeysuckle and apricot character, a sweet wine for honey wine fans.
Buy Wines Online says: Napa dessert wine with orange, lime and apricot aromas and honeysuckle florals; a thick, creamy palate with bakery spice and a key lime pie note.
$74.95 $85.99 375 ml · checked October 2026
Check price at Buy Wines Online 
Taylor Fladgate 10 Year Tawny Port
- Tawny Port
- Sweet
- Portugal
A ten-year tawny: sweet, nutty and caramel-led, a classic after-dinner pour.
Wine On Sale says: Amber tawny with dried apricot and fig, nuts and caramel on the nose, with a touch of vanilla sweetness.
$47.95 750 ml · checked October 2026
Check price at Wine On Sale The short version
Honey wine in sixty seconds
Swap the grapes for honey and you have honey wine. Dissolve honey in water, add yeast, wait. The yeast turns the honey's sugar into alcohol, and what is left of the flowers the bees visited turns into aroma. It may well be the oldest alcoholic drink people have made on purpose, and in English it has another name: mead.
It does not have to be sweet. A winemaker can stop early and leave sugar behind, or let the yeast finish the job and bottle something as dry as Sauvignon Blanc. It can be still or sparkling, young or barrel-aged. What a traditional honey wine does not have is tannin, because there are no grape skins, so even the dry versions feel soft.
- Made from
- Honey, water, yeast
- Also called
- Mead, tej, hydromel, miód pitny
- Typical strength
- 11% to 14% ABV
- Sweetness
- Bone dry to dessert
- Serve
- Chilled, like white wine
- Gluten
- Naturally gluten-free
Style finder
Tell us what you usually drink
The fastest way into a new category is through one you already know. Find your usual order on the right and start with the honey wine beside it.
Not sure whether you want sweet or dry? This guide sorts it out in two minutes.
If you like Off-dry Riesling or Moscato Demi Sec, the semi-sweet flagship If you like Pinot Gris or unoaked Chardonnay Brut, the dry one If you like Champagne or Cava Brut Sparkling If you like Prosecco or a spritz Brut Fresca Sparkling If you like Oaked Chardonnay Brut Barrel Fermented If you like Amaro, tawny Port or bourbon Demi Sec Miombo
Why one producer leads our list
Bee d'Vine: mead made like fine wine
Much American mead is sweet, flavored and sold young. Bee d'Vine goes the other way: honey and spring water only, dry and semi-sweet styles, and years of aging before release.
The winery was started by Ayele Solomon, whose family is from Ethiopia, the home of tej. He set out to make a refined version of that honey wine in Sonoma Valley. You may have seen him pitch it on Shark Tank.
2ingredients: raw honey and spring water
11.5–12.5%ABV, the same as most white wine
3 yrs+in bottle before release, after 6 months in barrel, per the producer
90–92points in published Tastings.com reviews of three of the wines
Guides
Learn honey wine in an afternoon
Basics
What is honey wine?
Possibly the oldest drink there is, explained in five minutes.
BasicsHoney wine vs mead
Same drink, two names. Here is why both exist and when each is used.
BasicsWhat does honey wine taste like?
Spoiler: not like a spoonful of honey. A flavor map from dry to sweet.
CultureEthiopian honey wine (tej)
The national drink of Ethiopia: gesho, the berele flask and where to find it in the US.
BuyingWhere to buy honey wine
Ordering online, finding mead near you and how alcohol shipping works.
BuyingThe honey wine from Shark Tank
What happened in the tank, whether the deal closed and where the company is now.
Make it yourself
One gallon, four ingredients, a lot of patience
Mead is the easiest wine to make at home: there is nothing to crush or press. Our recipe walks through a traditional one-gallon batch and explains why each step matters, and the calculator tells you exactly how much honey you need for the strength and sweetness you want.
| Style | Honey per gallon | Approx. ABV |
|---|---|---|
| Light (hydromel) | 1.5 to 2 lb | 7 to 9% |
| Dry | 2.5 lb | about 11.5% |
| Semi-sweet | 3 lb | 12 to 14% |
| Sweet | 3.5 to 4 lb | 14% and up |
Quick answers
Honey wine FAQ
What is honey wine?
Honey wine is wine made by fermenting honey and water instead of grape juice. It is the same drink as mead. Most bottles land between 11% and 14% alcohol, and styles run from bone dry to dessert-sweet, still or sparkling.
Is honey wine the same as mead?
Yes. "Mead" is the old English name and "honey wine" is the plain description. United States labeling rules file mead under the honey wine class, which is why you will see both terms on bottles.
Is honey wine always sweet?
No. Yeast eats sugar, so a honey wine fermented all the way is dry. Sweetness depends on the winemaker, not on the honey. Look for words such as brut or dry if you want a dry style, and demi sec, semi-sweet or sweet if you do not.
What is the best honey wine for a beginner?
A semi-sweet, still honey wine is the easiest introduction. Our pick is Bee d'Vine Demi Sec: 12.5% ABV, made from only honey and water, with several gold medals on the producer's awards list.
Where can I buy honey wine?
Selection in stores is thin, so ordering online straight from the producer is the practical route. Bee d'Vine ships from California, usually the same day if you order by 2 pm Pacific, and an adult signature is required on delivery.
Which honey wine was on Shark Tank?
Bee d'Vine. Founder Ayele Solomon pitched it in season 12, episode 5, which aired on November 13, 2020.