Many wines for mom’s many roles
The Pour Man
You can probably trace the pink and white color palette of Mother’s Day back to greeting card companies. It’s likely a nod to the season, the time of year when large sections of the country start to slowly blink awake and show the blush of morning after a long winter sleep. It is the color of spring flowers, and in some ways, I’m sure, it was meant to symbolize the genteel nature of mothers too.
But really that tells only half of the story. Mothers are not just gatherers and nurturers. They can be as dogged as any hunter and as fierce as any warrior. They protect and provide, sometimes in ways that fathers cannot and sometimes in exactly the same ways that fathers do. The traditional roles have evolved and even flipflopped in some instances.
So whether the mothers in your life spend their domestic energy fixing the family washing machine or filling it with whites, colors and towels (three separate loads and at least two different temperatures, of course) is not the issue. Neither is whether they regularly cook dinner or couldn’t point you to the measuring cups in their own kitchen. There is something that they do at home. There are countless things that they do.
On Mother’s Day, one thing your mother wants is to not have to do any of those things. She never takes a day off from being your mom, but for at least one day a year, she is happy to let everything else go. She wants be waited on too. Even when she says she doesn’t, she does. She wants to be acknowledged not just for being the calm waters of your safe harbor, but also for being the vigilant defender who built the harbor in the first place.
So do it. Give her the day off from the things she does, and show her that you know she is not all spring flowers. Pour her a deliciously pink glass of rosé, if you like, because that is a wine style that is appropriate on Mother’s Day and all other days of the year. But also offer her wines that go beyond the ones that would look at home next to a store-bought Mother’s Day card. Pink and white are fine, but they’re not everything on Mother’s Day. Remember, your mom might have been the one who coddled you and told you everything would be OK, but all through those early years, and those gentle smiles, she was also a fully practicing warrior.
How about at some point during the day offering her something really decadent, like Valdespino El Candado Pedro Ximenez ($14/375 milliliters) dessert wine from Spain. If she doesn’t like “sweet” wine, tell her that this one is supposed to be sweet — it’s dessert. Just a little taste of this viscous wine full of raisins, dates, brown sugar and licorice notes, and she might be hooked. It comes with a lock and key — literally — and you can give them to her and tell her that she will always have the key to your heart. Or, because that’s way too corny, you can just keep them for yourself and use them to lock a zipper on your luggage the next time you travel.
Warriors love big red wines. To that end, you could pour your mom a glass of zinfandel. The 2015 Chateau Montelena Calistoga Zinfandel ($39) brims with blackberry, plum and smoke, plus spice, black pepper and chocolate on the finish. Or what about a big ol’ 2015 Canvasback Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon ($40) from Washington? It’s a luscious wine, full of dark cherry, red fruit, herbs, cocoa, spice and a touch of caramel on the finish.
Another Washington option is the 2015 Charles Smith Wines Boom Boom Syrah ($17), which is rich and full of plum, dark fruit, blueberries, spice, leather and mocha. For an Old World dry red option, you could offer your mom a taste of Italy’s most heralded grape — nebbiolo — at a fraction of what a bottle of Barolo might have cost. Pick up a bottle of 2016 Marchesi di Gresy Martinenga Langhe Nebbiolo ($22), with its black cherry, smoke, raspberry and touch of leather on the finish. From Chile, the 2015 Lapostolle Grand Selection Carmenere ($14) offers bursts of fresh and juicy red and dark fruits, plus spicy notes — and your mom will think you spent way more on it than you actually did. Which could be a good or bad thing, depending on your mom.
On the white side, the 2016 Robert Mondavi Winery Napa Valley Fume Blanc ($22) is an iconic California wine. Carrying the name that Mondavi himself coined for this richer style of sauvignon blanc (“fume blanc”), this wine is herbal, citrusy and peachy with an elegant softness and a long, nutty finish. From France, the 2015 M. Chapoutier Belleruche Cotes du Rhone ($13) delivers floral notes, apricot, minerality and subtle flashes of tropical fruit, with bright and lively acidity. And the 2016 Portlandia Vintners Oregon Pinot Gris ($18) is fresh, refined and lovely, full of lime, tangerine and other citrus, plus minerality and bright acidity — great with food or just to drink on its own.
Bubbles are always appropriate on such an auspicious day. You cannot go wrong with a bottle of the 2009 Moet & Chandon Grand Vintage Extra Brut Champagne ($65), with its floral and citrus notes, plus stone fruits and a kiss of honey. You could also stay with the fizz but take things back to the red side with a deliciously fun and budget-friendly lambrusco, such as the Cleto Chiarli Vigneto Cialdini ($15). Deep purple and frothy, it’s an attention grabber from the moment you pour, and when your mom gets a taste of this wine’s dark berries, tangy raspberry, spice and zesty acidity, she just might kiss you.