Pies and Prejudice

It's been quite a fortnight for women – it was International Women's Day on 8^th March, which fell in the middle of National Pie Week. How can half the planet's population be worth only a day, yet a pastry-based food item merits an entire week? Both of those momentous events may have passed you by (put them in the diary for next year now), but the big one is still to come: this Sunday, 18^th March, is Mother's Day.

Mother's Day, or Mothering Sunday, as any bar-room bore will tell you, did not originate as a way for grateful offspring to reward their mums for 364 days a year of thankless toil by giving them a lie-in, a card, a box of chocolates and a Richard Curtis DVD.

In fact the Mother in question was the “mother church” and it was a tradition for Christians in Medieval times to return to worship at their home church on the middle Sunday of Lent. Travelling back to their birthplace also presented families with a rare opportunity to reunite at a time when many children left home to work, or marry, often at an early age. It's a small imaginative leap from these beginnings to the habit of presenting your own Mother with a present at the same time.

So much for the origins; it would be a brave son or daughter nowadays who would leave their poor mum with no flowers, chocolates or lunch at the pub, insisting that Mothering Sunday is nothing to to with her. Mums are generally a pretty tolerant bunch when it comes to the foibles of their nearest and dearest, but, come their special day, woe betide any offspring who don't play the game.

What should you do to make your mum feel special? You don't need to throw money at the problem and even if you are strapped for cash there are still plenty of ways to spoil your mum without even having to open your wallet.

The sound of someone else doing the hoovering (as long as it doesn't disturb one's lie-in) is music to the ears, as is the soapy slap of a son or daughter wielding the mop on the kitchen floor. And don't forget to do all the washing up if you offer to cook Sunday lunch.

With just a couple of quid to spend, a bunch of the cheapest cheery daffs and a homemade card are always welcome.

If money is not so tight, then good chocolates can be yours – oops, I mean hers. Chocolates are very much personal taste, but even the most discerning chocolate connoisseur will be impressed with the quality of Hotel du Chocolat's offerings. They have a branch in Guildford (and instore at John Lewis in Kingston) and, while not cheap, they are definitely what is technically known as a bit special.

However, if your mum is anything like the ones I know, a bottle of something special is not going to go amiss. Regular readers may recall that I assembled a crack team of mums last year in order to road test some pink fizz, tasted blind.

Without re-hashing the results in their entirety, I'll summarise here: Moët et Chandon Brut Rosé NV and Veuve Clicquot Brut Rosé NV (which will set you back somewhere between £30 and £40 depending on where you shop) both had their fans and came top overall. However, a very creditable runner up was the bargain-priced Jacob's Creek Sparkling Rosé (widely available at around £10, but currently £8 at Sainsbury's). Its easy-going, creamy red fruit and gentle fizz won over the jury that night. However, in case anyone from my own family is reading, my particular favourite was the Veuve Clicquot Rosé. Just sayin'...

On the whole I am not a believer in “wines for the ladies” as distinct from wines that appeal to men. Here then, is a selection of wines for current drinking that have impressed me recently and would be perfect for any wine-loving mum (or dad).

Trimbach Riesling 2009 - £10.99 at Majestic

Riesling is the great grape variety that wine writers want you all to love, but you just won't. It's a mystery. Is it the tall bottles? The risk of it being sweet? Who knows. Please have a crack at this one, from Alsace in eastern France: it's dry, but gentle with nicely integrated acidity; the flavours of citrus and a certain stoniness linger. Sauvignon blanc drinkers: do yourselves a favour and give it a go.

Camel Valley Atlantic Dry 2010 - £11.95 from Camel Valley's online shop or £13.50 from The Wine Society

Something tells me that English wines are going to be big this year. This could be your tipple of choice at any Jubilee street parties come June. Don't worry too much about the slightly spooky-sounding varieties in here – Bacchus and Reichensteiner, plus some more familiar Chardonnay. Focus instead on the lovely fresh, floral nose and deft, grapefruit-y palate. This would be a delight with posh fish and chips.

Humberto Canale Gran Reserva Pinot Noir 2009 - £15.95 at Great Western Wine

Argentina and wine generally mean two things: Malbec and Mendoza. However, down in the cool and wetter far south of Patagonia, there is a wine growing area where cooler climate varieties such as Pinot Noir thrive. This Gran Reserva has had plenty of oak thrown at it, but this does not obscure the beautifully smooth pinot fruit. A wine that it is all too easy to love.

Every day is Mother's Day

This Sunday, in case you need reminding, is Mother's Day. And yes, technically this is a religious festival and the mother in question is supposed to be the mother church. But try that line with the mum in your family, as you explain that there is no lie-in, breakfast in bed, slap up lunch or just a cheery bunch of flowers to look forward to and, well...don't say we didn't warn you.

A popular choice, at least in the two Heathers' households, is a nice bottle of something – and preferably something with a bit of sparkle to it. If you would like to follow suit, then in the interests of familial harmony, Heather D has conducted some entirely unscientific research on your behalf, to help guide you in your purchases.

A crack team of highly qualified tasters was assembled, ready to pit their finely tuned tastebuds against a selection of five popular pink fizzes, ranging in price from £7 to £37. In order for our, ahem, research session to stand up to scientific scrutiny, the wines were all tasted blind, so that the tasters did not know what they were drinking. The mums (for that was the entry qualification for this taste-off) slurped, sniffed and failed to spit out all the wines on your behalf and the results are produced here.

Good news, bad news

First the bad news – there were two pink Champagnes in our line-up and they came in first and second place in our results table. Top of the fizzy pops was Moët & Chandon Brut Rosé NV (RRP £36.99), followed by Veuve Clicquot Brut Rosé NV (same price). The mums rated these two above the others for their “light” and “dry” style, with some detecting a hint of blackcurrant in the Moët. A couple found a slight bitter aftertaste in the Veuve, but obviously found it pretty attractive overall.

The good news for hard up sons and daughters is that equal second place in the line-up was Jacob's Creek Sparkling Rosé, around £9.49 and widely available. “Very drinkable” was a phrase that cropped up when discussing this wine – though, come to think of it, “very drinkable” cropped up quite a bit throughout the tasting...hmmm.

Cava is often the fizz we go for when we're in a hurry, but can't afford the posh stuff. However, Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Cava Rosada Brut Vintage (£7.99) was lacklustre on the night: “watery” and “crude” were just a couple of the damning comments it drew.

However disappointing the Cava, however, it did trounce the Millione Vino Frizzante from Italy (£7.97 from Sainsbury's and elsewhere). It's the kind of wine that you want to like, as it is a social enterprise, where each bottle sold contributes to humanitarian projects in Sierra Leone. Buying it might make you feel good, but drinking it, perhaps less so, if the comments of our tasters are anything to go by: “strange” and the pithily concise “yuk”.

The moral, dear readers: a bottle of Jacob's Creek would undoubtedly be welcome, but a smart pink Champagne has it beaten on looks and taste. And if the mum in your life appreciates the good things in life, the ultimate pink fizz is Bollinger Grande Année Rosé 2002, £85 from Selfridges. Pale salmon in colour, the lively strawberry fruit and hints of rose petals draw you in. Delicate, but with great depth of flavour, wonderful to sip on its own, yet equally lovely with suitably elegant food. Definitely a grand gesture wine, but you might get to share it, don't forget!

Along with the fizz, a favourite gift to accompany is a bunch of flowers – and sorry, our remit doesn't go as far as testing garage forecourt bunches versus an artistic creation from a proper florist. However, if you're plumping for that other standby, a box of choccies, then we are your, er, men.

In fact, the indefatigable Heather D went to far as to attend a wine and chocolate tasting – purely in the interests of research you understand. There were some brave matches (which is code for uh, no), including a pretty dry Riesling with an almond-cream filled milk chocolate. In our experience milk chocolate is so mouth-coatingly sweet that it's a tall order for any wine, red, white or fizzy to get along with it.

Much more successful is a really fruity red wine with dark chocolate – so the lady may love Milk Tray, but perhaps she should give Black Magic a try if she also likes a glass of red wine. We tried a dark chocolate praline with 2008 Penfold's Koonunga Hill 76 Shiraz Cabernet (RRP £10), which accomplished the neat trick of toning down the exuberant fruit of the wine and making the chocolate taste less sweet too.

However, the best match of the night was an Australian version of Tawny Port, served in this case with a ganache-filled dark chocolate – though I suspect just about any chocolate would work. The sweetness, power and layered nutty complexity of Tawny Port is THE wine to choose if you want to find a match made in heaven for your box of chocs. The Australian version we tasted is not currently available in the UK, but a 20 year old Tawny Port will have the right depth of raisin, nut and caramel flavours. The big names such as Graham's or Taylor's 20 year old tawnies are widely available for around £35. If your budget doesn't stretch that far, then a 10 year old such as Warre's Otima, widely available for around £13 for a 50cl bottle, may not have all the exquisite depth, but delivers plenty of rich nuttiness for the price.

Spring into Mother's Day

“Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.” Anon

Spring officially arrives on 21^st March, the Vernal Equinox, meaning “moving towards the light”. And the following week we adjust our clocks to “spring forwards” to take advantage of the longer daylight hours. Whether you live in the city or countryside you can’t but help be affected by the yearly springtime renewal of life showing in the green shoots of plants, busy birds tending their nests and the arrival of lambs and a stirring of new life. Mother Nature, defined as life giving and nurturing of fertility and fecundity, is magnificently in evidence.

Cybele was the mother of the Greek gods and the festival to celebrate her was traditionally held in Asia Minor and Rome during the Ides of March - from 15^th to 18^th of March. In England we also celebrate motherhood at this time, always on a Sunday, which this year is 14^th March. Nowadays Mothering Sunday is known as a “Hallmark Holiday” meaning it has an overriding commercial purpose which was, unsurprisingly, created in the USA. Over here Mothering Sunday has been celebrated since the 16^th century and is also known as “Simnel Sunday” because of a tradition of baking Simnel cakes. It is also called Laetare and this day in the church calendar was dedicated to the honour of the Virgin Mary and the “mother church”. This day was – and still is – marked by giving token gifts to the mother and also the relinquishing of certain traditional female tasks such as cooking and cleaning which were allocated to other family members as a gesture of appreciation. So following tradition, and because she is unique to you, a gift for your mum wouldn’t go amiss.

“I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food!” W.C. Fields

Women love wine. A bit of a sweeping statement we know, but according to fairly exhaustive surveys this is increasingly the case (excuse the pun). It can be a good idea to find out the lady’s preference beforehand, but fear not if you haven’t a clue. Underneath the mumsy exterior of most women lies an adventurous Warrior Princess, (well she brought you up and that must have been something of a battle), who is ready to try anything – within reason. 

It was a woman who drove me to drink, and I didn’t have the decency to thank her for it. W.C. Fields

It is often assumed, particularly by men, that women prefer a light white wine. (Quite possibly this image has been proliferated by the quaint idea of compliant, sweet and rather dotty- “lightweight” in today’s parlance - little women). This assumption has been turned upside down by recent surveys by Vinexpo, Decanter and Living.com in the UK whose findings surprisingly and definitively state that women prefer red! Bang goes that stereotype. 

Wine is often described as masculine or feminine. Take for example French Burgundy and Bordeaux: just by looking at the bottles you can guess their gender. The Burgundy bottle is gently curved whilst Bordeaux has strong shoulders and straight lines. Red Burgundy is made from pinot noir, a variety often given feminine-sounding descriptions – it has “silky tannins” and is “hauntingly perfumed”. Red Bordeaux, by contrast, if often talked of as “earthy” with “brisk tannins” and a “lean body”. Is it all just auto-suggestion? Certainly some of it must be, but the French take these things very seriously and many a Frenchman could spend all day arguing the gender-related nuances of a particular wine. 

So if you’d like to treat a red wine loving mum, we’d recommend the soft tannins and lively fruit of a pinot noir. New Zealand, and particularly Central Otago, produces some delicious ones. Jackson Estate Vintage Widow Pinot Noir 2007 (Marlborough, New Zealand) is £14.99 at Waitrose, who also list Mount Difficulty Pinot Noir 2007 (Central Otago) for £19.99. One of the great things about pinot noir is that it is a versatile food match and would happily accompany all sorts of things from roast chicken to a boeuf bourgignon. But its soft tannic structure also mean that it is also fabulous to drink on its own, particularly with feet up on Mother’s Day whilst the chores and a gourmet meal are prepared by other family members. 

We don’t know many women who would turn their noses up at a glass of Champagne, and our recommendations for the best offers at the moment are, starting at the budget end of the scale:

Lindauer Special Reserve NV (New Zealand again) - £11.99, or £6.99 when you buy 2 bottles at Majestic. Not technically Champagne of course, as it’s made not just outside the Champagne region, but across the other side of the world in New Zealand. But it does use the same grape varieties and method as Champagne. This is an ever-reliable performer and a real bargain at the discounted price. It’s not a rosé, but does have a hint of negligée pink about it, along with delicious, crisp strawberry fruit.

Ridgeview Merrett Fitzrovia Rosé 2005/6 - £20.99 at Waitrose. A pink sparkler from Sussex! One of the best of the ever-improving English sparkling wines – celebrate all things English along with Mother’s Day.

Taittinger Brut Reserve NV - £25 on special offer until 22^nd March also at Majestic. Returning to an earlier theme, this is one of the more feminine Champagne marques, with a high percentage of chardonnay in the blend. Light, frothy and floral – who could resist?

Further gift ideas are to give with the wine a beautiful glass or decanter, there are many lovely wine related gift items to be found on a link via our website: www.redwhiteandrose.co.uk/wine_gifts. Also of course some great wine offers which as mothers ourselves we know are just the ticket to please. However for the ultimate treat you could go for our Wine & Dine Service which takes all the burden of choice, organizing and sheer hard work out of the equation for you. Your mother will feel truly loved and pampered to find that you have given her a tailor-made wine and food matched and themed extravaganza. See www.redwhiteandrose.co.uk/wine_and_dine for details. Our speciality, for your pleasure.

Wear a smile and you may find it grows on you.

“God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.” Jewish proverb