Looking at the calendar of important days of the year, there aren’t many that can trump Mothering Sunday (according to my Mum). A day where we can celebrate everything that the matriarch of the family has done for us in the past year, or remembering what they have done for pretty much every day of our lives up until now.
Mother’s Day always falls 3 weeks before Easter Sunday, or the 4th Sunday of Lent, so it can change date every now and again.
The origins of this fateful day are a bit of a mystery, with some saying that it relates to a Roman festival celebrating Spring; some saying it relates to the day you should visit your ‘Mother Church’ (rather than you attending your ‘Daughter Church’ – or the church in your local parish) or others declaring that it is the day where sons and daughters who worked in domestic service were given the day off to visit their families.
Traditions of celebrating the top female in your life vary from country to country, but they all centre on 3 main things; the eating of cake, the giving of gifts and the straight-up feasting! One of the weirder activities partaken on this fateful day is in Serbia, where Mother’s Day is celebrated as part of a triumvirate of celebration days (Father’s Day is beforehand and Children’s Day is afterwards), where the mother is physically tied up and is only released upon agreeing to give gifts and treats to their children – something I will attempt to instil in my own parent’s household, for sure.
Commercially speaking, Mother’s Day is very important for retailers, as the good old British public send 30 million cards at this time of year, totalling a whopping £45 million, according to the British retail consortium and we spend £27.37 on average on Mum, making this a real money maker for shops and online.
So, with this in mind, we wanted to recommend wines that have a link to some of the most commonly bought gifts for all the Mother’s out there, however tenuous they may be!
First getting selected is a wine reminiscent of the favourite gift of many; Jewellery.
Freixnet Prosecco (currently on offer at Morrisons at £9, down from £12) is a steal, from a producer that made it’s name producing Prosecco’s biggest competitor on the market, Cava. The bottle has this lovely looking ‘cut-glass’ look about it, meaning it can be ‘upcycled’ into all sorts of things (look at the their website, www.freixenet.co.uk for more info). A fresh, grape-laden style, with bits of effervescent lemon sherbet and apple flying around the taste buds. Beautiful
Second, we have the go to gift for many on Mother’s Day; Flowers.
Fleurie, Domaine Georges Dubouef (currently on offer at Majestic Wine for £10.99 a bottle, as part of their ‘Mix Six’ deal) is a go to red wine for people who have drunk white wine all their life, but now to step over to the dark side. The recently deceased George Dubouef was nicknamed ‘The Pope of the Beaujolais’, such was the reverence that he was held in by many. Fleurie is the village where the wine is made, using the Gamay grape variety, making a wine of floral gorgeousness, laced with bubblegum-like red fruit and a soft, yet fresh texture. Textbook stuff.
Finally, we have the best friend of Mothers and Fathers alike; Chocolate.
Rubis Chocolate wine (£11.40 from Tanners Wine Merchants), a wine that is made with a combination of Spanish-made Tempranillo wine, blended with the essence of cacao, and then fortified to a pleasing 15% alcohol level, giving this a rich, warm and slick style, full of milk chocolate flavours and rich berry notes. Different to anything else I have ever had before and you need a distinctly sweet tooth to like it, but great as an after-dinner Port substitute.
Whatever you drink on this auspicious day, drink it sensibly and toast the lady of the day: The Mother!