Wine column: Mom wants sparkling (and rose and white)

You don't have to overthink what to pour mom on Mother's Day.

As long as it's crisp and refreshing, sparkling, white or pink, it will please the women in your life.

After all, it's spring -- the time to quaff new-release wines -- and cheers mom.

As such, the most apropos Mother's Day wine has to be sparkling pink.

Maverick Estate Winery in Oliver has the perfect bottle -- Non-Vintage Ella Sparkling Rose Brut ($35).

Made in the Champagne-style, it's elegantly simple and intriginging complex at the same time with a raspberry and lemon drop and freshly baked croissant profile.

Drink it on its own when you toast mom or pair it with eggs benedict at brunch, salad Nicoise at lunch or barbecued chicken dinner.

Maverick recognizes how special Ella and your mom are, so over the entire Mother's Day long weekend (today, tomorrow and Sunday) it is pouring complimentary tastings of the bubbly for all moms (and everyone else) that drop by the tasting room at 3974 Highway 97.

Plus, there's 10% off all purchases at the wine shop over the weekend.

Maverick's patio is also open, offering $10 seated tastings.

This season, Maverick is introducing the bespoke tasting where preset tasting flights are a thing of the past and you get to pick the wines you taste.

Or, stay a little longer, buy a bottle of wine and bring your own picnic to enjoy on the view patio or garden terrace.

Maverick also has special events coming up such as the kick-off dinner of the Intimate Dining Series on May 25 and the All That Sparkles Flight School on May 22.

Information and bookings at www.maverickwine.ca.

Oh, of course, Maverick makes more than sparkling.

So, if your mom is Chardonnay-leaning, the newly released Maverick 2022 Chardonnay ($35) is an excellent option for its aromas and flavours of grilled pineapple, caramel and vanilla.

Want some California in mom's Chard?

Then the Tom Gore 2021 Chardonnay ($22) from Sonoma County is the ticket for its ripe pear and brown sugar profile.

Rose options for mom run from the pale pink of the Fort Berens 2023 Rose ($24) from Lillooet to the robust and dark pink of the Hester Creek 2023 Cabernet Franc Rose ($23) from Oliver.

And to round out the Mother's Day recommendations is the Blue Mountain 2023 Pinot Gris ($26) from Okanagan Falls.

Gris is quintessential of the Okanagan because it's the most-planted white grape in the Valley and a definite crowd pleaser.

Blue Mountain amps up the classic by fermenting its Gris in both stainless steel and some oak barrels to give added texture and orange-peel complexity to the traditional crunchy pear aromas and flavours of the wine.

Book ahead

Mother's Day is notoriously busy at restaurants and wineries as men try to make last-minute arrangements to take their wife and the mother of their children out.

So, a word to the wise here -- make a reservation now at your favourite resto or winery, if it's not too late already.

Some of the wineries touting their Mother's Day offerings include Mirabel in Kelowna (Chardonnay Soiree with charcuterie, 1-4 pm, $49), https://mirabelvineyards.com/; See Ya Later Ranch in Okanagan Falls (brunch and mimosa specials), www.sylranch.com; Nk'Mip Cellars in Osoyoos (brunch and rose on the patio), www.nkmipcellars.com; and Haywire Winery in Summerland (rose and waffles), www.okanagancrushpad.com.

Steve MacNaull is a NowMedia Group reporter, Okanagan wine lover and Canadian Wine Scholar. Reach him at smacnaull@nowmediagroup.ca. His wine column appears every Friday afternoon in this space.