Negus Winery

Ethiopian Honey Wine Gets the Royal Treatment at Negus Winery and Meadery in Alexandria | Eater DC

"I visited the tasting room at Negus Winery and Meadery, located at 5509 Vine Street in Alexandria, Virginia, and sampled tej — the ancient Ethiopian “honey wine” that owner Gize Negussie bottles as Mama’s Honey Wine. The tiny, 2,000-square-foot operation (staffed by seven people, including Negussie and his wife, Hermela Neguse) offers semi-sweet and semi-dry honey wine served in wine glasses or in a traditional Ethiopian berele; Negussie says it’s mellow and “there is no headache the next day.” He ferments the honey wine in four Italian-made stainless-steel tanks for three to four months, then ages it two to three months, and customers can even taste it straight from the aging tank for the strongest experience. Negussie learned the recipe from his mother, Tekuam Hailu, and uses raw wildflower honey from Lancaster, Pennsylvania — a choice his mother tasted and approved — to reproduce the traditional Ethiopian flavor. The tasting room also bottles Purcellville-grown red, white, and rosé under the Melody label, sells injera chips from Tsiona Foods, and allows customers to bring or order food from nearby Ethiopian restaurants or fusion food trucks; seating is about 60 indoors and 42 outside. The space leans into a royal theme — Negus means king in Amharic, the logo is a crowned lion, and photos of Emperor Haile Selassie I (including one with Queen Elizabeth II) are displayed — and Negussie bills it as the only tasting room in the United States serving tej; his product is already stocked at nearly 30 stores and Ethiopian restaurants in the region and is shipped across the country. After earlier work in beer and a COVID-era setback that forced him to dump large quantities of beer, Negussie returned to his honey-wine heritage in 2021 and plans to grow a vineyard, start his own beekeeping/honey operation, and eventually revive the beer side of his business." - Lenore Adkins