((TITLE)) HONEY WINE
((TRT: 9:07))
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Alexandria, Virginia))
((Main characters: 0 female; 1 male))
((Sub characters: 3 female; 2 male))
((Blurb: Gize Negussie wants to introduce Ethiopian culture to Americans through the experience of drinking Tej, known as honey wine.))
((NATS))
((Gize Negussie
CEO, Negus Winery))
Which one is your
guys’ favorite?
((NATS)) Honey Wine. Honey Wine.
((Gize Negussie
CEO, Negus Winery))
Yeah. The Honey Wine.
((NATS))
I like sweet.
((Gize Negussie, CEO, Negus Winery))
That’s my mom’s recipe.
((NATS))
Okay.
((Gize Negussie
CEO, Negus Winery))
Yeah. So, that’s the reason I call it Mama’s Honey Wine.
((NATS))
Okay.
((NATS))
((Gize Negussie
CEO, Negus Winery))
When I lived in San Francisco, I got a chance to visit a lot of top wineries, including Robert Mondavi and some other big ones.
((NATS))
And this is semi-sweet, semi-sweet filtered.
((Gize Negussie
CEO, Negus Winery))
And then I couldn't find any wineries carrying our product or Honey Wine or Tej [Ethiopian Honey Wine]. So, I was like, you know, it's better if I start something completely different for the people who never tried it before, something completely different, which is Honey Wine or Tej. Tej is over 3,000 years recipe that dates back over 3,000 years, the time of Queen of Sheba [wealthy Biblical figure].

((NATS))
((Gize Negussie
CEO, Negus Winery))
Those guys are from Ethiopia, and in Ethiopia, we drink Tej [Honey Wine] in the different kind of vessel. We call it Berele, B-e-r-e-l-e. So, they toast each other because that’s how they celebrate drinking Tej. We call it Tej Honey Wine [A type of mead made of honey, water and yeast].
((Collin
Negus Winery Visitor))

Yeah, so my friend, Molly, found it online, and she recommended it as like the first Ethiopian Winery in the area. I had never had Honey Wine before and I thought, I just, I really wanted to see what it was like. And it’s truly been a delicious, delightful afternoon.
((Gize Negussie
CEO, Negus Winery))
So, my mom is, she’s very good at it [making Honey Wine]. I told her, “Hey, I want to start a Honey Wine [business] everyone introduce.” But there is a big Ethiopian community in the Washington, D.C. area outside of Ethiopia. So, I told her, I need to move to D.C. [District of Columbia] or Virginia, so that I can, you know, start my business where my niche markets are. And also, I'll introduce [it] for those who never had Honey Wine before. And Virginia became one of the top destinations for wineries down [in] Purcellville [Virginia]. So, I went to Purcellville and then I checked some of the wineries. And none of them had like carry Honey Wine.
((Nketiah “Ink” Berko
Negus Winery Visitor))
So, this is my first time. I actually found out about this due to, I think it was a DCist [local publication] profile and maybe The Washingtonian. And the wine is fantastic, especially the Honey Wine. We’ve really enjoyed it and no complaints here at all. We’ll definitely be here again.
((NATS))
((Gize Negussie
CEO, Negus Winery))
I’m so glad you guys like it. That’s my mom’s recipe. Yes. That’s why I call it Mama’s Honey Wine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, instead of like, you know, forget about wines, if I ask you like fermented grape or fermented honey, which one would you pick?
((NATS))
Honey, honey.
((NATS))
((Gize Negussie
CEO, Negus Winery))
Of course, that’s why it used to be for a king or royal drink. They are in every household, and they start doing it in their home. But they have their own secret. My mom also, she had, and she transferred it, and here you are.
((NATS))
Awesome, awesome.
((Gize Negussie
CEO, Negus Winery))

The unfiltered, the 10 percent, I did it two times because I want a little bit honey to pass into the bottles, so that it’s going to create its own carbonation or bubbling. That’s why when you taste it, there is a little bit bubble. That’s the natural carbonation. You taste that. Yes. I did it, that one purposely because, you know, it’s a technique.
((NATS))
((Gize Negussie
CEO, Negus Winery))
Today, we are doing filtration from another tank to the new tank.
I have to make sure this one is also locked. All right. This is a filtration pad. So, we are filtering after we aged this like almost six months right now. A lot of work, but we have to make sure there is no yeast passing into the new tank, so that when we package, they [the yeast] are not growing inside the bottle.
((NATS))
((Gize Negussie
CEO, Negus Winery))25

So, I'm going to take it the other end to the aging tank which is right here. All right. This is tank number six. This is aging tank. 12% alcohol [unfiltered] finished product. So, what I'm going to do is, it's already connected. Everything is good. So, I'm going to open it down here, and then the alcohol is going to come, or the Honey Wine is going to come and filter through the filtration system, and it's going to go to the new tank. The whole like filtered product is going to come here, and then we're going to package it from here.
((NATS))
((Gize Negussie
CEO, Negus Winery))
Now it's getting darker. Darker because all the Honey Wine is coming through the pads. Right now, I'm going to take a sample, because from the filtration, it’s coming to the new tank. And I'll take and then check the sensory testing, and the meantime, the alcohol content.
((NATS))
((Gize Negussie
CEO, Negus Winery))
No bad smell. Healthy. Wow. This is so good. This one is a measurement for alcohol. One point, zero, one, zero [1.010]. I’m going to write my report. You see the difference. This one is clear and needs ready to go, ready to package. These ones are still fermenting. That's why it's cloudy.
((NATS))
((Gize Negussie
CEO, Negus Winery))
We have a family business back in Ethiopia. So, I grow up like helping my dad. You know, just right next to him, running around, driving cars, like taking care of like doing import export stuff, his paperwork, those kind of stuff. So, I learned a lot of business skills from my parents. Actually, I started a transportation business, which is a limousine business,
((Courtesy: Gize Negussie))
which connected me with the Napa and Sonoma [California] wineries. So, I used to take a group of people in my limousines down in Napa or Sonoma Valley [California].
((end Courtesy))
So, that's why I learned how to make wine. People are inspired. Sometimes I'm like I wish if they tried
((Courtesy: Gize Negussie))
the Honey Wine or the Tej, my mom’s Tej, because it's delicious. I got a chance to try like top wineries,
((end Courtesy))
like Caymus. But, you know, just to be honest with you, my favorite one is my mom’s Honey Wine.
((Tiffany Slay
Negus Winery Visitor))
This is a new experience. I wouldn’t have thought about that [Honey Wine] before. I prefer red wines on the sweet side. But this one was pretty good, so I made a purchase. It’s sweet, nice taste.
((Celia Grove
Negus Winery Visitor))
It was kind of very wild to see a new experience that I had never been exposed to before so close to home. I have never had Honey Wine before, but my father is a beekeeper, so I am pretty familiar with honey. But yeah, I have never had Honey Wine before. I got the semi-sweet, unfiltered today, and it’s really good. I tend to like sweeter wines.
((NATS))
((Jeri Thuku
Negus Winery Visitor))
I love that it’s also bringing Ethiopians’ culture and, you know, drink here in Alexandria. There’s definitely an interest in this, not just from Ethiopians but just from Americans in general. We’re very interested in trying something new and so, yeah, very glad that they opened this.
((Gize Negussie
CEO, Negus Winery))
My dream is to introduce our culture into the United States.
((NATS))
You guys are awesome.
((Gize Negussie
CEO, Negus Winery))
Thank you so much.
((NATS))
You guys work so hard.
((Gize Negussie
CEO, Negus Winery))
You guys are amazing, yeah.
((Gize Negussie
CEO, Negus Winery))
To me, it's a big opportunity to introduce something completely different than grape wines.
((NATS))