Eight great high street wines for Mother’s Day

Wherever we can meet up, on Zoom or in our support and family bubbles, we should raise a glass to motherhood this year above others, writes Terry Kirby

(The Independent)

For the second year in a row, this is not going to be an ordinary Mothering Sunday. This time last year we stood on the brink of the pandemic and were being advised not to meet up with elderly relatives; that made it difficult in itself, but this year it may feel even worse – so many of us have lost our mothers and the mothers of our children, while other families are simply unable to meet up, except perhaps online. But where we can meet up, on Zoom or in our support and family bubbles, we can and should raise a glass: most definitely to motherhood, but also to those mothers we have lost and, hopefully, to a future that feels brighter, thanks to the vaccine. And time when actual hugs can replace virtual ones and bottles shared, not just waved on screen.

So, today may be about finding the right wines for that occasion tomorrow – whether it’s a simple drink, perhaps a glass of something fizzy, or to accompany a sit down meal in our family bubble – during our essential shopping and supermarket trips. And I’m also highlighting a couple of wines made by women winemakers, for which I didn’t quite have space in my column last week on women winemakers in honour of International Women’s Day.  

As ever, sparkling wines must come into play here, as a simple pop of a cork can do wonders to lift spirits and make any occasion a bit special. And the supermarkets and high street retailers have a wider variety of discounts during this spring period of “celebration” days (which starts with Valentine’s Day and continues to Easter). The choice of sparklers and champagnes is, of course, extensive, but here are just a few ideas. Own label champagnes can offer terrific value for money compared to the big marquee names and the Veuve Monsigny Champagne Brut (£12.99 aldi.co.uk) is no exception: a straightforward, crisp and refreshing sparkler with lovely orchard and berry fruit flavours.

At Marks and Spencer, the Champagne Delacourt Brut (£20.00 marksandspencers.com) is appropriately one made by a woman, Elisabeth Sarcelet, and it’s a richer mouthful than the Aldi wine, with some added reserve wine delivering complexity and brioche notes into the fruit flavours. If it’s a pink sparkler you are looking for, then perhaps avoid some of the slightly overpriced big names, and go for a delicate, classy English sparkling such as the Camel Valley Pinot Noir Rose Brut (£29.99 waitrose.com), made in Cornwall with considerable love and expertise by one of the pioneering vineyards of the domestic sparkling boom, which will reward you with gorgeous red berry flavours and the sense of a Cornish meadow. If it’s a decent prosecco you are after, then there are plenty of the recently officially approved prosecco roses around, but try the lovely and enlivening La Gioiosa Rosé Millesimato Prosecco (£8.99, until April 6, normally £11.99.waitrose.com; £11.00 sainsburys.co.uk), just the ticket to make a Sunday brunch into a celebration. 

(The Independent)

A family meal will also need some still wines, so while you are in Marks and Spencer, you could pick up its Ormarine Conchilya Picpoul de Pinet 2019 (£9.00 M&S stores only), made by two women, Marie Lefebvre and Virginie Berthuit. It’s a citrussy, zesty wine, with a clean acidity and a lovely saline hint, making it ideal with any kind of fish or seafood. A main course dish of some baked sea bass or salmon, or something involving oriental flavours, requires a Kiwi sauvignon blanc. There are many out there but if you are splashing out, then try the Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc 2019 (£17.99 if bought as part of mixed six bottle purchase, otherwise £20.99, majestic.co.uk), made in Marlborough, New Zealand, by two former winemakers from the legendary Cloudy Bay operation and using older vines, which give a thrilling texture and complexity to the potent mix of tropical fruits and grassiness, again with a slight note of salinity or savouriness in the mix; ideal for all seafood, but also light white meats and poultry.

A cold day on Sunday, and if your choice of food is a casserole, a red meat roast or perhaps something like a vegetable tagine, you might want to opt for the South African Journey’s End Blue Gum Merlot 2017 (£10.00 sainsburys.co.uk) which has smooth, velvety, warming flavours of plums, damsons and hints of tar and tobacco. Returning to New Zealand, but moving over to the Central Otago region, here is a great pinot noir for red meats – particularly lamb or duck – or for complex vegetable dishes: the Mount Difficulty Pinot Noir, Central Otago (£20.99 until 6 April, normally £25.99 waitrose.com). It’s light bodied, but packs a punch with vibrant flavours of ripe red cherries and raspberries, underpinned with hints of spice and smoke. A lovely wine for a spring lunch, with the lamb perhaps adorned with a sauce or puree with some freshly picked wild garlic, the shoots of which are bursting through in my local woodlands right now and are a sure sign of spring to come. And perhaps, for all mothers and their families, one of new hope.