Great Wines to Celebrate Mom on Mother’s Day! (Wines with Mother’s Day Foods, Sparkling from South Africa, Rosé of Pinot Noir, Beaujolais)

Show Notes

Episode 73: Great Wines to Celebrate Mom on Mother’s Day!  00:00

Hello! And welcome to The Wine Pair Podcast. I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and my wine pairing partner in crime, Carmela. And we are The Wine Pair! 

Ok, a quick orientation for those of you who may be new to the podcast - in each episode we learn about, taste and give our honest review of three wines that are reasonably priced - meaning under $20 each -  and should be easy for you to find. And, our podcast is made for people like us - people who love wine, but want to learn more about wine, find new wines to explore, and just feel more confident when we talk about and order wines. So, if that sounds like you, you are in the right place - and, we invite you to taste these wines or something from your stash along with us while you listen as a fun way to participate in the podcast! And we are proud to say that we are officially recommended by the editors of Decanter Magazine from their October issue, who call us fun, irreverent, chatty, and entertaining. 

Well, Carmela, we are back after a bit of a hiatus visiting our two oldest kids who are in graduate school in New York City, but we are ready to get to it! Did you miss it? Were you jonesing for it? We did release some episodes when we were on our trip, namely a couple of minisodes which we recorded before we left, and an interview with David Babich who is the CEO of Babich Wines from New Zealand that we also recorded before we left. But it’s been three weeks since we have recorded a regular episode and I hope we are not too out of practice. Hopefully it will be like falling off a log - which is a weird saying, by the way. 

So, in honor of you, Carmela, this episode is an homage to moms. In this episode, we are going to talk about some great choices for wines for Mother’s Day, which, surprisingly, we have not done before. Because, afterall, Carmela, you are a mother. In fact, if there was one thing I would say defines you the most, it is that you are a mom. Through and through. 

Now, we are really hoping that all of you out there are doing one of three things. First, if you are fortunate to have your mom around still, and that may be someone who occupies that mom space in your life like a grandma or aunt or cousin or friend or other , we hope that you are planning on doing something special for that mom - and maybe part of that is having a nice meal with your mom, and of course, having some good wine with that meal if that is something your mom enjoys.

Second, if you are lucky enough to be married to a mom, we hope that you are also doing something special for your spouse and planning something nice for her that goes beyond forcing your children to make her breakfast in bed. Give your spouse the day off and do something nice for her - and if a meal is in the cards, which it should be, again, you better get some good wine for it. And we’ll help you with that today and without breaking the bank - although breaking the bank for mom is ok. 

And, finally, if you are a mom, which again, you are Carmela, we hope that you are at least hinting to your spouse or your children that they should be doing something nice for you, which should minimally include a nice meal and some wine. Ok?!?

What is your perfect Mother’s Day, Carmela? I think I already know, but if you had your wish for Mother’s Day, what would it be?

I knew that would be your answer, and what’s funny is that I looked up “perfect mother’s day” and there is a great article from Upworthy that I have a link to in our show notes, and by and large, the #1 answer from most moms “a day to myself.” What do you think about that? I also think moms would prefer experiences over things. Don’t you think?

Ok, so let’s get to talking about some great wine choices for Mother’s Day, and then let’s taste and review some wines to see if they make the grade  . . . 

But first . . . we have to do our shameless plug, right Carmela? First, we want to start by saying THANK YOU for listening to us and for supporting our show, and if you have not had the chance to do so yet, now would be an awesome time to subscribe to our podcast  - it is a free way to support us, and then you never have to miss a show!  - and a huge thank you to all of you who have subscribed already - we really really appreciate it! 

And, another great way to support us for FREE is to leave a nice rating and review on our website or on Apple Podcasts or other podcast service so we can continue to grow our listeners.

You can also follow us and see fun pictures of the wines we are tasting and trying today on Instagram at thewinepairpodcast, and you can contact us on our website thewinepairpodcast.com with any questions or ideas you have.

And, as we do every week, we’ll tell you someone we think you should tell about The Wine Pair Podcast - and this week we want you to tell anyone who is, has, or is married to a mom, or has someone in their life who is like a mom to them.

ARTICLES and LINKS

• https://www.upworthy.com/we-asked-moms-to-describe-the-perfect-mother-s-day-their-replies-were-strikingly-similar 

Topic: Great Mother’s Day Wine Choices 09:28

So, Carmela, in order to pick some great choices for Mother’s Day wines, I think we first need to decide on what some great Mother’s Day meal or food choices might be, because, afterall, wine is food, right?!? 

Without thinking about it too hard, what do you think are some good Mother’s Day meal options?

• When I looked at articles online, I saw a lot of recipes focused around chicken, salmon, salads, pastas in olive oil or cream sauces (not red sauce), and risotto.

And, because we need to, what kind of a Baby Cake would you make for Mother’s Day? This is another of our shameless plugs for Carmela’s Baby Cake’s business. (Strawberry Dream?!?) Why is that your choice?

Ok, so based on those food choices, which make a lot of sense, I am thinking we want to focus on certain kinds of wines for Mother’s Day. First, I would focus on wines that are a bit lighter in body and flavor so that they complement lighter foods. Second, I would also choose wines that are fun and festive, so nice looking bottles and/or wines that look nice in the glass. Something with some brighter colors, and maybe even some sparkle. And, even though I usually don’t like to focus on it, I think you want a nice label on the wine. Don’t you think?

Any ideas on what you might serve? Or even what you might not serve, Carmela?

So, for me, out would be heavy red wines. I just think, unless the mom in your life loves them and you are having a red meat or red sauce centered dinner, they are not the right choice. 

In would be sparkling wines, particularly those on the drier side so that they can be enjoyed throughout the meal and before the meal as well, so I would look for brut sparkling wines. 

Another great choice is a pretty rosé wine, and I would look for something on the fruitier end, so a perfect choice would be a Provence or Provence style rosé. These tend to be on the very pink end of the color spectrum, and have that classic watermelon and citrus flavor profile. These are often rosé wines made from grapes like Cinsault, Grenache, Syrah, Mouvedre’ (the classic Rhone wine grapes), and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Another great rosé choice that we like is rosé made from Pinot Noir. It is also a light wine with great acidity and cherry flavors, but tends to be a little less brash than a Provence Rosé, I find. A little more reserved.

I would also think about fruity white wines like a Sauvignon Blanc or a nice Chablis also known as an unoaked Chardonnay. A crisp Grüner Veltliner is becoming a favorite, and I also really love a nice Soave Classico or a Gavi di Gavi, both from Italy, and those can be really pretty and wines that go excellent with food.

For red wines, I would focus on something on the lighter end that can also be served cool like a nice Gamay also known as a Beaujolais, or a lighter Pinot Noir style from a cooler climate area like France or New Zealand, and also maybe a Cabernet Franc or a Valpolicella from Italy. Look for wines that are again from cooler climates and that are light on oak and on alcohol. 

So, on that note, I think it’s time to learn a little more about the specific wines we are drinking today. Whaddya say?

ARTICLES and LINKS

• https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/mothers-day/g4229/mothers-day-dinner/
• https://www.foodnetwork.com/holidays-and-parties/packages/mothers-day/photos/mothers-day-dinner-ideas
• https://www.lovebabycakes.com/babycakes 
• https://www.wine-searcher.com/region-grape-provence-rose#:~:text=What%20grapes%20are%20typically%20used,Tibouren%20and%2C%20occasionally%2C%20Carignan. 

Mother’s Day Wines We Chose for This Episode 15:26

As usual, all of the wines we have chosen for this episode are under $20, and all of them should be relatively easy to find because I bought one of them at Total Wine, and another, that we got as a gift, also can be purchased Total Wine, and the third you can purchase at the winery’s website. But, again, even if you can’t find these exact wines, you can find something pretty similar pretty easily at just about any wine store or wine section or wine shop.

The first wine we chose is a sparkling wine! Woo Hoo - and a sparkling wine is a perfect choice for Mother’s Day or any day really! It is a Graham Beck Methode Cap Classique Brut. Now, we love a good brut sparkling wine, and for the 500th time, when a sparkling wine says it is brut, means it is dry, and when a sparkling wine says dry on the bottle, that actually means it is on the sweeter side.

Now, this is a new one for me, but the Methode Cap Classique is just the specific name that they use in South Africa for making a sparkling wine in the traditional way you would make a Champagne style sparkling wine. And this wine does use two of the classic Champagne grapes - namely Chardonnay and Pinot Noir - and in nearly equal amounts.

A short history or where this came from, according to a website called glassofbubbly.com, the term Methode Cap Classique was adopted in 1992 in response to the ban on the use of the words ‘Champagne’ and ‘Champenoise’ for anything other than the bottle-fermented wine from the Champagne region in France. 

Also, because this is a Non-Vintage, which is really typical for sparkling wines, that just means that they add some of the previous year’s wine, or maybe wines from several years, when they do the second fermentation in the bottle.  And, I might be wrong, but I don’t think we have had a South African wine before - and while that may not sound like an obvious place to grow and make wine, it is actually the 8th largest wine producing country!

By the way, don’t worry about memorizing all of this stuff because we have it and links to articles and other fun stuff in the show notes for this episode on our website the wine pair podcast .com

The second wine we are drinking is a favorite of yours, Carmela, and so for Mother’s Day, feels really appropriate. It is from our friends at Compton Family Wines in Oregon, and this is from their Garden Series which has these beautiful labels. This is their Rosé of Pinot Noir, which I mentioned earlier is probably our favorite kind of rosé.

Rosé of Pinot Noir is a lighter style of rosé of, and, as we have also said about 500 times, you really need to understand the grapes in the rosé to understand what the wine will taste like. These wines tend to have great acidity, and often have a sort of berry and citrus or watermelon and citrus flavor to them. 

We really like Compton Family Wines, and no, we are in no way sponsored by them. We are actually on their wine list, and so we get a nice selection of their wines every year. They are noted for making bright, food friendly wines, and they farm their grapes in what is called regenerative agriculture - we have an episode, number 30, where we interviewed Tabitha Compton, and it is worth a listen for sure to learn more.

The winery says this about how they make this wine: We intentionally harvest Pinot Noir earlier to make our Rosé. Half of the fruit is whole cluster pressed and the other half is soaked on the skins overnight. Fermented in stainless steel.

But for Mother’s Day, a wine like this with a beautiful label and a beautiful look in the glass, plus it’s food friendly profile, will be a real crowd pleaser.

Our last wine is a Beaujolais from France and is made by Jean-Claude DeBeaune, and it is called their Special Selection Beaujolais. Beaujolais is an area in France just south of Burgundy, and so this wine is named for the region, not for the grape varietal. The famous grape varietal that Beaujolais wines are made from is called Gamay, and to me, it is an underrated red wine when done well.

The label of this wine is another good choice for Mother’s Day, in addition to being a wine that will go well with a lot of the foods that you may want to serve on mom’s special day. If you can find a domestic Gamay, feel free to go with that, but a special note about Beaujolais specifically, and this information came from a nice little write up on wine.com.

There are actually four styles of Beaujolais wines. The simplest is Beaujolais Nouveau that is released in November and is meant to be drunk young. It is what is often considered in the US to be a Thanksgiving wine, but is sometimes a kind of crappy and cheap tasting wine that red wine lovers sometimes really don’t like. If that is the only kind of Beaujolais you are familiar with, you are missing out, because the others, sometimes just called Beaujolais and others called Beaujolais-Villages wines, are better, and there are cru vineyards as well that are really good. 

We have chilled this wine a bit, which we highly recommend when serving a Gamay wine, and by chilled, we don’t mean refrigerator cold, but rather just under room temperature, so you can pop it in the fridge for a half hour or so if you don’t have a temperature controlled wine fridge.

So, this will be a fun spectrum of wines to try in anticipation for Mother’s Day - each from a different part of the planet, and each with very different styles and grapes. If any of these is a winner, we will let you know in just a minute as we get to the tasting portion of our show. And, again, you can go to the show notes for this episode on our website to get all of this informaiton and more. 

We’ll take a quick break and be right back. And, if you have these wines or similar wines, please feel free to drink along with us!


ARTICLES and LINKS

• https://grahambeck.com/collection 
• https://glassofbubbly.com/what-is-methode-cap-classique/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CMethode%20Cap%20Classique%20(MCC),made%20by%20the%20traditional%20method. 
• https://www.comptonwine.com/
• https://www.wine.com/product/jean-claude-debeaune-beaujolais-special-selection-gamay-2012/358680 

Sparkling Brut, Rosé of Pinot Noir, Beaujolais Wine Pairing Tasting and Reviews 23:30

Wine: Graham Beck Methode Cap Classique Brut (Click here to learn more about this wine on wine.com. Affiliate link)
Region: South Africa
Year: NV
Price: $16.49
Retailer: Total Wine
Alcohol: 12%
Grapes: 51% Chardonnay, 49% Pinot Noir
Professional Rating: D 90, RP 90

What we tasted and smelled in this Sparkling Brut:

• On the nose: Yeast, brioche, creamy, apple, citrus, lemon, 
• In the mouth: Lots of citrus, pith of citrus, almond, marzipan, macron, chestnut, granny smith, Campari

Food to pair with this Sparkling Brut: Would be better with food, cheese, charcuterie board, brie with fig jam, fried fish, caesar salad with anchovies, something salty
 
As a reminder on our rating scale, we rate on a scale of 1-10, where 7 and above means that we would buy it, and 4 and below means that we are likely to pour it down the sink, and a 5 or 6 means we are likely to drink it and finish it, but we are probably not going to buy it. 

Rating: 

• Joe: 7/10
• Carmela: 6/10

Wine: Compton Family Wines Garden Series Rosé of Pinot Noir
Region: Oregon, Willamette Valley
Year: 2021
Price: $18
Retailer: https://www.comptonwine.com/
Alcohol: 12.8%
Grapes: Pinot Noir

What we tasted and smelled in this Rosé of Pinot Noir:

• On the nose: Bubblegum, earthy, rose, potpourri, citrus, strawberry, mint, herb, 
• In the mouth: Tart, strawberry, raspberry, creamy, citrus, good acidity, menthol, rose petal, personality, body

Food to pair with this Rosé of Pinot Noir: Fish, salmon, pasta primavera, lemon chicken, grilled chicken, shrimp, grilled vegetables, aglio e oglio, pasta carbonara, pasta with peas and prosciutto

Rating: 

• Joe: 8/10
• Carmela: 9/10

Wine: Jean-Claude DeBeaune Special Selection Beaujolais
Region: France, Beaujolais
Year: 2021
Price: $17.99
Retailer: Total Wine
Alcohol: 12.5%
Grapes: Gamay

What we tasted and smelled in this Beaujolais:

• On the nose: Cherry licorice, Twizzler, red fruit, clay, soil, underripe fruit, 
• In the mouth: Fresh and fruity, tannic, raspberry, clay, silty, grass

Food to pair with this Beaujolais:  Chicken, teriyaki chicken, roasted chicken, risotto, ravioli, chicken marsala, chicken piccata

Rating: 

• Joe: 7/10
• Carmela: 6/10

Which one of these are you finishing tonight?

• Carmela: Compton Family Wines Garden Series Rosé of Pinot Noir
• Joe: Jean-Claude DeBeaune Special Selection Beaujolais

Taste profiles expected from Sparkling Brut, Rosé of Pinot Noir, Beaujolais   44:26

• Sparkling Brut (Methode Cap Classique)
  • Winery: a soft, fresh and fruity style with hints of brioche throughout. Apple comes forward on the mouth.
  • Winery website in US: Light yeasty aromas, limey fresh fruit on the nose and rich creamy complexity on the palate. The exceptionally fine mousse contributes to the freshness and finesse.
• Rosé of Pinot Noir
  • Pacific Rim and Company:  The primary flavor you'll taste in a good pinot noir rosé is strawberries. This is joined by rose and pomegranate flavors. You may also taste a bit of orange zest, lemon, or white cherry, depending on the particular maker
  • Winery: This vintage offers hints of fresh strawberries, depicted in the charming wildflower bouquet on the label. This amazing Rose has rich depth but also a very nice crispness that we love about Pinot Noir roses.
• Beaujolais
  • Gamay from Wine Folly: black currant, raspberry, violet, potting soil, banana.
  • From the winery: This easy-drinking Beaujolais is made from Gamay grapes and has raspberry and plum flavors. Fresh, fruity and vibrant.

Outro and how to find The Wine Pair Podcast 46:42

Ok, so, Carmela, it is just about time for us to go, but before we do, we want to thank you very much for listening to us - AND if you haven’t done so yet, now would be the perfect time to subscribe to our podcast AND also a fantastic time to leave us a nice rating and review on our website or Apple podcasts or other podcast service - and it is an awesome and free way to support us and help us grow listeners.

We would also love to hear from you about a wine you would like us to taste and review. You can, leave a message for us on our website thewinepairpodcast.com, or you can just email us at joe@thewinepairpodcast.com and tell us about a wine you are curious about, or curious what we think of it. And, follow us on Instagram so you can see pictures of all of these wines we are tasting and reviewing. 

And, next time you listen to an episode, drink along with us and see if you are tasting and experiencing the same things we are - it’s like a date night! And if you do that, we’d love to hear what you think!

Alright, with that, we are going to sign off, so thanks again, and we will see you next time. And, as we say, life is short, so stop drinking shitty wine.