RAISE A GLASS

THIS time of year is very special for mums. We wait by the phone or the letterbox. We peep through the curtains to see if there’s a delivery. Some of us are treated to lovely days out and are waited on hand and foot.

If the snow has subsided from your front door you have no excuse not to seek a treat for mum on Mother’s Day (March 11)!

IF MUM LIKES A WHITE WINE:

Zalze Vineyard Reserve Bush

Vine Chenin Blanc (RRP £8.99, the Co-op, 13% abv). This wine’s creaminess would be yummy with roast chicken running with buttery tarragon juices. If you’re cooking for mum treat those scrunched up chicken juices in the roasting tin to a dash of it as a base for your sauce. The chenin blanc grapes finish their fermentation in barrel and are aged in barrel too, sitting on its lees. Hence the creamy notes, together with aromas of fresh green apple and tropical fruits.

Tesco finest* Tingleup

Riesling (RRP £8.50, 12% abv). I really love this Australian wine’s crisp flavours and acidity which literally tingles; together with waves of lemon and lime, apple and grapefruit. I’m sharing this as a high five to women winemakers (many of them mums I guess) as International Women’s Day is also this month. The wine was created by Janice McDonald. The riesling is blended with pinot gris and chenin blanc; the wine won silver in the 2018 International Wine Challenge awards.

IF MUM LIKES A RED WINE:

The Odd Lot (£9.99, Aldi, 14.5% abv). A mum might be happy to describe her family as “the odd lot” but she’ll always look favourably on them with a glass of wine in her hand. This super-rich wine is a blend of petit syrah and petit verdot grapes and it hails from Monterey County in California. The label is all very jolly and cartoon-like but the wine is a bit more serious. It is hearty, with ladles of vanilla and dark red fruits. It could be too rich for some but this statement in a glass is worth a try.

Jackson Estate Vintage Widow

Pinot Noir 2014 (RRP £20.95 Ocado, Majestic, 13.5% abv). This is a very special red; the grapes are blended 50-50 from the Somerset and Gum Emperor plots which sit a few yards from the Jackson winery in Marlborough, New Zealand. As single vineyard wines, they have contrasting styles, Somerset being floral and feminine, Gum Emperor earthy and masculine.

Blended, the grapes create a nicely-balanced, complex wine with red and black fruits, white pepper spice and dried herbs.

IF MUM LOVES CHAMPAGNE

Bruno Paillard’s 1er Cuvee Rose (£47.15, thewhiskyexchange.com, 12% abv). I won’t baffle you too much with the science but it’s a blend of 25 vintage wines going back to 1985 and it has aged three years on the lees. Elegant pinot noir is centre stage (with a dash of chardonnay) and the fine bubbles usher forth a nose of rosehip, subtle red fruits, and a tiny peep of lemon. The extradry flavours are long-lasting and exquisite. Love to mums everywhere. Enjoy.