2022 Maryland Governor's Cup Gold Medal, Best in Class and Jack Aellen Award Winner!

This pyment is a tribute to Klara Margulies Löw who was the loving mother of our co-founder, William Loew.

To us, this pyment reflects Klara’s elegant, caring, and refined nature that set high standards in her family and in her life.

A dry pyment, fermented with Muscat Canelli, wildflower and clover honey. Barrel aged for nine months. It pairs well with an assortment of cheeses, as well as poultry or seafood dishes.

Enjoy now or age up to 15 years.

As part of the tribute series, each of the Loew descendants has the opportunity to help Rachel produce a mead in honor of one of the Löw family members. This series provides us the chance to share stories of the family members whose lives were affected by the horrors of the Holocaust, bringing their story forward in a unique and meaningful way.

This mead was produced with help of Rachel’s cousins, Claire and Eliana. To learn more about why Rachel decided to name this mead Klara:

‘In the late spring 2021, I was touring around in an ATV with Dave, a vineyard/winery owner in Western Maryland who we purchase grapes from. Dave and I chatted about my fruit commitment for the upcoming harvest while we made our way to his Muscat Canelli block. It is a small parcel, so Dave doesn’t sell Muscat to outside producers. I mentioned that Muscat Canelli would work beautifully as a mead. Nothing initially came from our conversation. As we drove away from the Muscat block I suddenly began reminiscing about my grandfather’s mother, Klara. I envisioned how Klara looked and how her personality resembled the variety. I had only learned about Klara, who tragically was murdered in the Holocaust, from the stories my grandfather shared with me and my family. 

Some time after that visit I was able to convince Dave to let me work with a small amount of Muscat Canelli for the 2021 harvest.

For the next few months before harvest, I thought about Klara and the type of honey I would need in order to create the perfect mead in her honor. One day, a local beekeeper visited our winery and asked me if I had interest in using the honey from his property in my meads. I said, “Sure. But, I have to try it first.” I did not want to commit to using buckets of honey without knowing the quality. A few weeks later the beekeeper brought me two small jars of the lightest honey I had ever seen. The honey tasted beautiful and elegant, just like Klara’s personality. Later that day I brought the jars to my grandfather for him to try. As soon as he tasted the honey his next words were, “get all of it.”

I hadn’t yet told my grandfather my plan to name this mead after his mother, Klara—the person he had loved most in the world. It was not until the day I made it that I told him. 

To make this mead even more special, I asked my cousins Claire (Klara’s namesake) and Eliana to help me make this mead. While we were stirring and heating the honey using our secret family recipe, we chatted about Klara and her place in our family’s unique history. As we finished for the day we walked up to the house to see my grandfather standing in the driveway. He had a big smile on his face. “How was it?” he asked my cousins, as they approached after a long day of working in the winery and learning about our family’s deep-rooted tradition. It is always special when we make mead—after all, my family has one of the longest tenures of mead production in the world. It is a legacy that my great-great grandmother first established in Lwow, Poland over 150 years ago. This was the perfect time to reveal to my grandfather my intentions to name the mead Klara. So, I asked him, “I know I’ve never met your mother, but for some reason this mead reminds me of her. Would it be okay if we named the mead Klara, after your mother?”

My grandfather stood there, shocked. He put his hands in his pockets and swayed back ever so slightly. He looked down, and then up at me and grinned, “I think she would be thrilled.'"

More about Klara Margulies Löw

According to William, Klara was rounded up in an action (mass deportation of Jews) from the Lwow ghetto. To our understanding, she was most likely taken to Belzec concentration camp where she was murdered.

Part of William’s testimony of survival that was recorded by USHMM:

“At that point in time I did already have my i.d., the identification card. I don't recall whether I had to wear a band or not. I probably did, but I don't recall that. But I got into ghetto because I wanted to see what happened to my mother. I rushed into the house. The house was empty but the hiding place where we had the hiding place for my mother was a couch. A couch consisted of a frame and on top of the frame there was this soft part which is the couch. You couldn't tell whether that couch was separate for anyone else it was one part. The frame and the couch, the upper part was one unit. That's why when there was any action, my mother would be hiding there. I would make sure of that. When I got home, the upper part was moved so I was scared of that. When I cried out for my mother she came to life. She was there. She was on the inside of the couch so even it was moved, she was in that area. She was wrapped around in a blanket, a dark blanket. So even though they were looking for her, they didn't find her. She was there, so we had our moment, with my mother. A number of weeks went by before another action came about. I think during that action I lost my mother, and I don't know how they got her. So, she was gone…”