Honey -- the ugly sister
Why is that honey can only command a fraction of the price of wine?
I had a very heated debate on this last night -- heated in the sense that it was in a sauna. We had been discussing Trockenbeerenauslese (as you do) and a gorgeous wine that retails at £25 ($50) for a half bottle. (This one -- Trockenbeerenauslese 2000 37.5cl Welschriesling/Pinot Gris Josef Lentsch Podersdorf/See -- to be precise.)
I thought the price was quite high, but was berated because I wasn't taking into account all the trouble that went into making the wine -- from tending the vines, to selective berry picking and then its actual fermentation and production.
Well, I couldn't argue with that. But then I mentioned all the work that my tens of thousands of girls do to collect nectar, how I provide furnished lodgings and medicare and and and ...
The most expensive honey in the world is thought to be Sidr, retailing at $200 a kilo, but I think that is a complete one-off. My honey retails at about £9 ($18) a kilo. Unfortunately no-one buys cases of it, but then again it doesn't cause bar-room brawls and broken homes.
So if CCD continues apace and spreads globally, what might happen to the price of honey? Not a lot, I'd guess. But pollination costs, as we have seen are quite a different story.
I think we need to break away from traditional honey shows and start tasting honey properly -- the way wine tasters do. It's just such a pity that honey cannot be consumed in significant quantities at a session. Perhaps sales could be increased by using it in copious quantities as a sauna massage oil ... Ugh!
I had a very heated debate on this last night -- heated in the sense that it was in a sauna. We had been discussing Trockenbeerenauslese (as you do) and a gorgeous wine that retails at £25 ($50) for a half bottle. (This one -- Trockenbeerenauslese 2000 37.5cl Welschriesling/Pinot Gris Josef Lentsch Podersdorf/See -- to be precise.)
I thought the price was quite high, but was berated because I wasn't taking into account all the trouble that went into making the wine -- from tending the vines, to selective berry picking and then its actual fermentation and production.
Well, I couldn't argue with that. But then I mentioned all the work that my tens of thousands of girls do to collect nectar, how I provide furnished lodgings and medicare and and and ...
The most expensive honey in the world is thought to be Sidr, retailing at $200 a kilo, but I think that is a complete one-off. My honey retails at about £9 ($18) a kilo. Unfortunately no-one buys cases of it, but then again it doesn't cause bar-room brawls and broken homes.
So if CCD continues apace and spreads globally, what might happen to the price of honey? Not a lot, I'd guess. But pollination costs, as we have seen are quite a different story.
I think we need to break away from traditional honey shows and start tasting honey properly -- the way wine tasters do. It's just such a pity that honey cannot be consumed in significant quantities at a session. Perhaps sales could be increased by using it in copious quantities as a sauna massage oil ... Ugh!
posted by Turlough | 10:06
3 Comments:
I know you've probably already thought of this, but just in case, might I suggest making mead?
I know I, personally, tend to pay good amounts for a good bottle of good mead if I can find one; Since micro-brewed and organic anything draws a heftier price (and is typically well-worth it), I think people would pay a good amount for such a thing.
I couldn't agree with you more Turlough!
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