From businesstraveller.com
By Rebecca Pitcairn
The Ritz’s first female sommelier Emily Lambert has turned her passion for English wine and hospitality into a new generation of mead – taking this ancient drink into some of the UK’s chicest hotels, restaurants and wine bars
In a world increasingly led by consumer demand, hotel and restaurant wine lists are evolving. From grower Champagnes (sparkling wine made by the same farmer or estate that grew the grapes) to no and low options, natural wines and sparkling ciders, the choice is expanding far beyond the traditional.
British sommelier-turned-winemaker Emily Lambert is on a mission to merge the worlds of modern and traditional wine by putting a contemporary spin on one of the world’s oldest alcoholic drinks – honey wine.
Lambert made her name as the first female sommelier at The Ritz London, where she joined the hotel’s pioneering academy at just 17. She went on to become a champion of English wine, appear on BBC Two’s Million Pound Menu and work as a wine consultant before co-founding Loxwood Meadworks with her partner, Danny Bacon, in 2022.
A Revelation at The Ritz
Wine was not an obvious career choice for Lambert, who admits she knew little aside from the obvious categories – red, white or rosé. But a family visit to The Ritz for afternoon tea as a teenager left a lasting impression, and when she decided that further education at college was not for her, she began looking for an alternative path.
Serendipitously, she discovered an advert for The Ritz Academy on the final day for applications, quickly submitted and of more than 400 hopeful applicants, she was one of just three chosen to join that year. The course trained apprentices across all departments of the hotel but Lambert’s first post was with the restaurant team, where she found herself working alongside sommeliers – despite being only 17 and unable to drink the wine.
“I was just pouring water at first, but I just loved the theatre of it all – the elegance and service of being a sommelier, and I guess entertaining the diners,” she explains.
Becoming The Ritz’s first female sommelier was not without its challenges. In a traditionally male-dominated environment, she recalls guests sometimes assuming – with her hair slicked back and uniform of suit with tails – she was a young man. But those experiences only served to strengthen her determination and open doors.
Discovering English Wine
Lambert realised that some of the most interesting wines at The Ritz were not necessarily from the traditional European powerhouses. Working alongside French and Italian colleagues, who naturally championed their own countries’ wines, Lambert found herself becoming something of an English wine evangelist.
“My first was Gusbourne and I remember tasting it and being like ‘whoa, this is amazing,” she says. “Everyone talked about how bad English wine was, and I was like, look it really isn’t and that snowballed into this passion of wanting to represent them.”
But rather than trying to make English wine feel worthy or overly serious against its counterparts, she wanted to make it accessible, contemporary, fun and flirty.
“I just feel that wine is enjoyed in such a fun environment. People typically enjoy it with friends and partners, and on a date, and I just felt like all those moments felt playful and sexy.”
It was that determination that led her to apply for Million Pound Menu with her then housemate, chef Ruth Hanson, in 2018. The BBC Two TV series mixed the competitive pressure of MasterChef with the investment drama of Dragon’s Den and saw the duo develop an all-British restaurant concept called Epoch, with everything sourced from within the UK.
“We didn’t even use pepper, we dehydrated horseradish instead, we used completely British beverages, and obviously English wines, which was my passion.”
The pair secured interest from investors including chef Atul Kochhar, although the investment ultimately did not materialise. It was disappointing, but Lambert now sees it as part of a much bigger journey.
“I wouldn’t have met Danny if we didn’t do it this way.”
An Ancient Drink Gets a Modern Makeover
The couple met at Lockswood Joust, a medieval festival organised by Bacon and his family in West Sussex and where he was showcasing his mead. It was a drink that, despite years working in hospitality, Lambert had barely encountered.
Mead is believed to be the oldest fermented alcoholic drink in the world – archaeologists discovered evidence of honey wine production in China dating back to around 9,000 BC. It is also thought to be the origin of the word “honeymoon”, when newlyweds were traditionally gifted a one lunar cycle’s worth of honey wine to drink after their wedding.
“I just thought, ‘why do people not know about this drink?’ and felt it needed more recognition,” explains Lambert. She went on to develop Loxwood Meadworks with Bacon, to give mead a more contemporary identity and deliberately position it as a wine rather than a niche historical product.
“We call it honey wine over mead, because I think that’s how customers can comprehend it in their mind better,” she adds.
From Bee to Bottle
Traditional winemaking techniques are used to create different expressions, from off-dry to oak-fermented and a traditional-method sparkling honey wine. The latter took patience with the second fermentation in bottle taking 18 months, compared with two to six weeks for grape wine.
“But then that gave it its own distinct characteristic,” explains Lambert. “It had been that long on the lees, and then it started to develop these caramelized notes.”
The wines are also beginning to demonstrate the importance of provenance. The honey comes from hives on a single-estate in Loxwood, and Emily says, there has been huge vintage variation.
“In 2023, 12 hives produced more than 1,000 bottles. In 2024, the same hives produced only around 500 so it’s difficult to forecast what’s to come,” Lambert explains. “The flavours can be quite different too: 2023 was peachy and full of stone-fruit character, while the following vintage was more herbaceous.”
This is down to where the bees choose to fly. They can travel up to six miles from the hive; with the plants they visit influencing the resulting honey and wine. This provenance and ‘terroir’ is what makes honey wine – similarly to grape wine – fascinating when it comes to pairing it with food.
“Depending on where the bees go, depending on the weather, depending on the soil,” says Lambert. “There’s so many factors that affect the influence on the wine.”
Winning Over Hospitality
Honey wine has found a receptive audience among some of Britain’s leading hospitality names; the Mandarin Oriental, Jason Atherton restaurants, Lady of the Grapes, Fortnum & Mason, Row on 5, The Dorchester and Coworth Park are among those that list Loxwood Meadworks, while they have collaborated with the recently opened Derby London City, Curio Collection by Hilton hotel on a bespoke bottle for its minibars.
One of Lambert’s favourite early successes came at Gordon’s Wine Bar, where the product was placed under a dedicated honey wine category.
“They sold around 1,700 bottles in a year, which I think just goes to show that the demand for honey wine is there if venues are open to listing it,” she says. “It’s a lighter and fresher drink than people probably expect – quite aperitif-esque and I think that’s why it works well.”
For Lambert, the parallels with the English wine category moving from curiosity to credibility – driven in part by sommeliers and hospitality professionals willing to put something unfamiliar in front of customers – has been essential to the marketing strategy.
“Sommeliers act as our ambassadors – just as I did for English wine,” she says. “Our biggest challenge as a business is getting the message out there to the general public that honey wine could and should be a part of modern drinking culture.”
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