Our meads are made with enthusiasm, love, and care, which is reflected in their quality and exceptional taste. The basis is always only the best quality honey and yeast. All types of our meads are only fermented cold to preserve the best of the honey. The production of mead is the domain of Milan Pleva, he has been doing it for more than 30 years and he constantly enjoys improving and perfecting their taste. He also likes to experiment and try new procedures and flavours, when he enriches mead with some fruit, herb from the garden or other natural treasures during the fermentation of honey. In this ongoing newsletter, we would like to inform you about the successes of our meads in competitions.
Meads also compete
Because we make meads with joy and honestly, we are well aware of their quality and the great feedback from our customers is also a clear indicator of the quality. However, in 2019, we decided to enter a world competition with one of our meads in order to get feedback from an expert point of view as well. And we have to admit that the result was very encouraging, it was a strong incentive for us and a confirmation that we are doing well in our Potštejn cellar.
Since then, some of our meads occasionally have taken part in a competition, and this is why we decided to share our successes with you, so you can test if you agree with the opinions of the expert jurors :-)
Currently, 9 of our meads are already proud of the award. These include both single-flower meads and our limited-edition, enriched during the honey fermentation process with some fruit, an herb from the garden or other natural treasures. Take a look at the overall overview of award-winning meads:
Awarded Pleva meads in the years:
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2026
Mead Madness Cup:
Mead from young walnuts - 1. place in the category Sweet Other Metheglin
This is how the jurors evaluated it:
Appearance: Nice amber color with pettilant.
Aroma: Wallnut dominant aroma follows by honey aroma.
Body: Very well balance in sweetness from honey and acidity follows by tannin.
Finishing taste: Very nice finish of honey sweetness along with perfect tannin and nice alcohol warming at last.
Overall rating: Very good balance in honey and acidity follows by the complexity of walnut with excellent finish.
Mint Mead wine - 1. place in the category Medium Metheglin
This is how the jurors evaluated it:
Appearance: The mead has a straw-yellow colour and is clear in the glass. Its appearance is clean and technically well-executed, with no visible Iaws. Overall, it presents itself very well.
Aroma: The aroma clearly expresses honey, complemented by a very pleasant cooling freshness from the mint. Even after pulling the glass away, a subtle minty coolness lingers in the nose, which is a particularly attractive feature. The aromatic balance is well handled and inviting.
Body: On the palate, the mead is enjoyable but noticeably very sweet —leaning more toward sweet than semi-sweet. The mint presence in Iavour is quite subtle, much less pronounced than in the aroma. As a result, the profle becomes strongly honeydriven with limited Iavour complexity beyond sweetness.
Finishing taste: The finish is long, smooth, and consistent with the palate. It remains sweet, with only a light echo of mint. The aftertaste is clean but dominated by residual sweetness.
Overall rating: Overall, the mint works beautifully in the aroma and adds a refreshing and elegant touch. The main obstacle is the level of sweetness, which slightly limits balance and drinkability. With a drier structure or slightly stronger mint expression on the palate, this could become an even more compelling example. -
2025
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2023
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2022
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2021
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2020
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2019
About competitions
Mead Madness Cup is probably the largest and most important international mead competition in Europe, which is held in Poland. It has been organized since 2018 in cooperation with the European Mead Makers Association (EMMA) and is organized as a side event of the European Mead Makers Conference. The prestige of this competition is enhanced by the participation of expert jurors from all over Europe.
The competition has gained great popularity and prestige. Hundreds of meads from all over the world compete in it every year in several categories. The competition here is therefore fierce, and every success in this competition is therefore very much appreciated.
Medovinka roka (Mead of the Year) is the most important Slovak mead competition, organized annually by the Slovak Association of Beekeepers.
Both traditional meads and flavoured meads are evaluated in the competition, the competing meads are assessed in several categories by an expert jury that evaluates the quality, taste, aroma and other properties of each mead.
The prestigious Regionální potravina (Regional Food) brand is awarded by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic since 2010 to the highest-quality agricultural and food products that win their category in individual regions.
Products awarded with the “Regional Food” label demonstrate uniqueness compared to standard products available on the market. This may include a traditional recipe typical of a given region, an original production method, or the use of specific regional raw materials. The label is granted for a period of four years, during which the product is allowed to carry the “Regional Food” logo.
The Potravina a Potravinář Královéhradeckého kraje (Food and Food Producer of the Hradec Králové Region) competition is organized with financial support from the Hradec Králové Region, and it is held under the patronage of the Regional Council of the Hradec Králové Region.
It recognizes the best regional products and producers based on consumer voting and aims to promote quality, integrity, and the tradition of food production in our region.
Of course, being awarded by experts does not mean that the awarded mead will necessarily be to everyone's taste. Even within our family business, each of us would probably recommend a completely different mead to you as the best. However, it is possible that this overview will make it easier for you to find your favourite one, or help you decide if you want to give mead to someone as a gift. In any case, we would love to hear how you liked each mead. We make them for you, and it is therefore important that they taste good to you.
