Pyment

Pyment is a honey wine made with grapes, combining the best qualities of both honey mead and grape wine into something truly special. The honey adds body and residual sweetness, while the grapes contribute tannins, color, and fruity depth that makes for a complex and satisfying drink that improves beautifully with age.

This ancient beverage dates back to medieval Europe, where it was considered a drink fit for royalty, and the combination of honey and grapes creates something that tastes neither quite like traditional mead nor quite like grape wine, but rather a rich blend of both.

The grapes provide natural nutrients that help the yeast ferment more efficiently than honey alone, which means pyment is actually one of the easier types of mead to make successfully. You can create a red, white, or rosé pyment depending on the grapes you use, and the flavor profile will shift dramatically based on grape variety, honey type, and how long you age it.

Pyment works particularly well for backyard grapes that might not be sweet enough to make a traditional wine without a lot of added sugar. Many cold-hardy grape varieties grown in northern climates produce juice that is more acidic and less sweet than commercial wine grapes, and adding honey solves both problems at once.

The honey brings sweetness and body while balancing the extra acidity, and you end up with a finished drink that showcases your homegrown grapes in a full-bodied homemade bottle, perfect for sharing.

Ingredients for Pyment (Grape Mead)

Like any country homemade wine or mead, pyment relies on balancing sweetness, acidity, tannin, and alcohol to create a well-rounded finished drink. The grapes bring some of these elements naturally, and the honey and other winemaking ingredients fill in what the fruit lacks.

• Grape juice – Provides the primary fruit flavor, color, and some natural tannins. You can use fresh pressed juice from your own grapes, store-bought 100% grape juice with no preservatives, or grape juice concentrate. Fresh homegrown juice is ideal, and freezing your grapes before pressing helps break down the cell walls and release more juice and flavor. Red grapes will give you a deep purple mead, while white grapes produce a golden or straw-colored mead.
• Honey – The defining ingredient that makes this a mead rather than a wine. Honey adds fermentable sugars, body, and its own subtle flavor notes. The amount you use depends on whether you are working with homegrown or commercial juice. For homegrown grapes that are less sweet and more acidic, use 2 pounds of honey per gallon with half a gallon of juice and water to fill. For sweeter commercial grape juice, use 1.75 pounds of honey per gallon. Any honey variety works, though wildflower and clover are classic choices that let the grape flavor shine.
• Water – Creates the mead base and dilutes the grape juice to a more balanced concentration. Use filtered or spring water if your tap water has a noticeable chlorine taste, since chlorine can inhibit yeast activity. For pyment, you will be adding water to bring the total volume up to your target batch size after adding the juice and honey.
• Wine yeast – Different yeast strains produce dramatically different flavors and alcohol levels. Wine yeast contributes flavor esters during fermentation that can enhance the fruity grape character or add other interesting notes. See the yeast section below for specific recommendations for pyment.
• Yeast nutrient – While grapes provide more nutrients than honey alone, pyment still benefits from added nutrients. Use 1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient per gallon. Honey is difficult for yeast to metabolize efficiently, and proper nutrition prevents stuck fermentations and off flavors. You can substitute a small handful of raisins if you prefer, but powdered yeast nutrient gives more consistent results.
• Pectic enzyme – Highly recommended for pyment. Use 1/2 teaspoon per gallon. Grapes are naturally high in pectin, which can cause permanent cloudiness in the finished mead. Pectic enzyme breaks down this pectin and results in much better clarity. Add it before pitching the yeast for best results.
• Tannin – Most wine grapes already contain tannins in their skins and seeds, so you may not need additional tannin powder. If your grapes are not particularly tannic (white grapes or thin-skinned varieties), add 1/8 teaspoon of wine tannin per gallon. You can also substitute a strong cup of plain black tea. Tannin adds body and structure to the finished pyment.

I have found that pyment generally does not need an added acid blend because the grapes provide enough natural acidity on their own. Taste your juice before starting, and if it already has a nice tart bite to it, skip the acid entirely.

Equipment for Pyment

In addition to ingredients, you will need some basic winemaking equipment to make pyment successfully:

• Wide-mouth glass carboy or fermentation crock for primary fermentation, especially if you are fermenting with grape skins
• Narrow-neck glass carboy for secondary fermentation
• Airlock and rubber stopper to seal the carboy
• Auto-siphon or racking cane for transferring mead between vessels
• Wine bottles, corks, and bottle corker for the finished pyment
• Brewing sanitizer for cleaning all equipment
• Fine mesh straining bag if fermenting with whole grapes or skins

If you are using fresh grapes rather than juice, you will also need a way to crush and press them. A potato masher works fine for small batches, or you can freeze the grapes first and let them thaw before pressing, which helps release more juice.

How to Make Pyment (Grape Mead)

The process for making pyment follows the same basic steps as any small-batch wine or mead. If you are new to mead making, read through my complete guide to making mead first for a more detailed breakdown of each step. You can also make a micro-batch mead in a quart mason jar to practice the technique before committing to a full gallon.

Preparing the Juice

If you are using fresh grapes, wash them well and remove any stems, leaves, or damaged fruit. Crush the grapes by hand or with a potato masher to break the skins and release the juice. For a more grape-forward pyment, you can ferment with the skins in primary for several days before straining, which extracts more color and tannin. If you prefer a lighter style, press the juice right away and discard the skins. Freezing grapes for a week before crushing helps break down cell walls and improves juice extraction significantly.

For store-bought juice, just make sure it contains no preservatives like potassium sorbate or sodium benzoate, which will prevent fermentation. Pasteurized juice is fine, and added ascorbic acid (vitamin C) will not cause problems.

Mixing the Must

Combine your grape juice, honey, and water in the fermentation vessel. For a one-gallon batch using homegrown grapes, use about half a gallon of juice, 2 pounds of honey, and enough water to bring the total volume to one gallon with a few inches of headspace. Stir vigorously until the honey is completely dissolved.

Add the yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme, and tannin if using. Give everything a good stir and let it sit at room temperature for a few hours or overnight to allow the pectic enzyme to work before adding yeast.

Pitching the Yeast

Once your must is at room temperature (below 80 degrees), add your chosen wine yeast. For best results, rehydrate the yeast first by dissolving it in a quarter cup of warm water around 100 degrees and letting it sit for 10 to 15 minutes until it starts to foam. Pour the activated yeast into your must and stir gently to distribute it throughout the liquid.

Primary Fermentation

Seal the fermentation vessel with an airlock and place it somewhere at a stable room temperature, ideally between 60 and 70 degrees. You should see bubbles in the airlock within 24 to 48 hours, indicating that fermentation has begun. The first week or two will be very active, with steady bubbling and possible foam at the surface.

If you are fermenting with grape skins, stir or punch down the cap once or twice daily to keep the skins submerged and prevent mold growth.

Racking to Secondary

After 2 to 3 weeks, when fermentation slows and sediment has settled to the bottom, use your auto-siphon to transfer the pyment to a clean narrow-neck carboy. Be careful not to disturb the sediment layer at the bottom, and stop siphoning before you pick up any of the lees. If you fermented with grape skins, strain them out now.

Seal the secondary carboy with a fresh airlock and move it to a cool dark location like a basement or closet.

Pyment benefits from longer aging than most fruit wines because the honey takes more time to fully integrate with the grape flavors. Plan to leave it in secondary for at least 2 to 3 months, and 6 months is even better. Rack again if you see a lot of new sediment accumulating.

Bottling and Aging

Before bottling, taste your pyment to check the sweetness level. If it has fermented completely dry and you prefer a sweeter finished drink, you can backsweeten by adding more honey. First stabilize the mead with Campden tablets and potassium sorbate to prevent renewed fermentation, then add honey to taste. If the sweetness level is where you want it, simply siphon the clear pyment into clean wine bottles, leaving any remaining sediment behind. Cork the bottles and store them on their sides in a cool dark place.

Pyment improves dramatically with bottle aging. It is drinkable after a month or two, but a year of aging will produce a noticeably smoother and more complex drink. Some of the best pyments I have made were not at their peak until two or three years after bottling.

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For more ways to use your grapes, try making homemade grape jam or grape jelly. If you want to explore more mead varieties, browse my collection of 50+ mead recipes or try a cyser (apple mead) which uses the same basic technique with apple juice instead of grape. For wine lovers, my 50+ winemaking recipes collection includes options for almost any fruit you can grow or forage.