Some Vino for Mama

Filed in archive Sparkling Wine on May 9, 2006

I won't be buying my mother any wine this Mother's Day. (She's a tea-totaller, though I could get her some non-alcoholic champagne.)

But if you're looking for something that isn't your usual bouquet of flowers or card in the mail, then consider getting mom a nice vintage to show how much you love and appreciate her this year.

Here are few suggestions from Buy mom a bouquet of 'flowers':

Michael Tagarello of High Withers Wine and Spirits in Goshen offers up two favorites.

The first is 2001 Talbott Sleepy Hollow Chardonnay ($34.99) from Monterey.

"It has loads of tropical fruit, great acidity and 14.6 percent alcohol to go along with it," Tagarello says. "This is what a grown-up Juicy Juice would taste like."

Tagarello's second suggestion is the 2002 Monthelie ($24.99), produced by Chateau De Puligny Montrachet in the Cote D'Or in Burgundy.

Bill and Debbie Iurato of Peck's Wine and Spirits in Warwick suggest a gift basket, filled with wines selected with the help of a trusted wine merchant.

"Be sure to include a champagne, which she can enjoy with breakfast in bed, a nice white wine to have with afternoon hors d'oeuvres, a red to accompany that fabulous barbecue you're going to prepare for her, and a sweet dessert wine to top off the day," says Debbie Iurato.

For the champagne, she suggests either Louis Roederer Brut Premier (sale price $34) from France or the California estate of Taittinger - Domaine Carneros ($20).

For the white, she says, try a sauvignon blanc such as the 2004 St. Supery ($18) or New Zealand's 2005 Oyster Bay ($12). "The California version is dry and crisp, while the New Zealand wine is more tropical and assertive," she says.