Agreed, mead plus fruit is always a terrific idea. We've done pomengranate and orange vanilla, and we're trying out bergamot vanilla next (really earl grey tea and vanila, but sssh), and the results have been uniformly excellent, as long as you're willing to wait long enough for it.
We've only ever done wines from kits... the $70 "World Vineyard" kits are good for 28-30 bottles but they're not quite as good as a $10 wine, and the reds especially do take a good long while to be drinkable. You could also try getting involved in your city's wine group, if you wanted to be a little more hands-on than the kits allow -- my roommate mentioned that the Columbus group took an October day trip down to south central Ohio and harvested and crushed grapes at a vineyard, split the cost, and everyone drove back with 12-18 gallons of must ready for fermentation.