It is a holiday that is popular and celebrated around the world.  It is also a day that seems to get more chaotic each year, as we try to make plans.  For restaurants, it is a powerhouse of a holiday, as a lot of people think that Mom should not have to cook on her day.  I have thought about making reservations, but my Bride wants to make sure that everyone gets together for Mother’s Day.  It is getting harder to coordinate the families to agree on a time and to get them to actually get there, though this year, the highway construction teams went out of their way to make it difficult to get from Point A to Point B with all of the detours not with actual construction, that even the handy-dandy GPS systems were not aware of.  So, even with my Bride trying her best to get everything done at a certain time, everyone basically showed up later.

She always enjoys making fruit and vegetable platters for all the noshers to get started on, and sometimes I think that it is the most labor-intensive part of the meal.   We may not have a charcuterie plate, but we always have cheese.  One of her cheeses of choice that she like to prepare is warmed Brie with a savory onion jam topping and she had some wonderful brown crusty bread to go with it.  Along with our trusty “go-to” white wines, since my Bride is also a mother, I had to make sure that we had a Pinot Grigio for her to enjoy.  I opened a bottle of Pratello Pinot Grigio Garda DOC 2020 from Azienda Agricola Pratello di Bertola.  Pratello was founded in 1867 on the morainic hills off of Lake Garda.  The estate is now one-hundred-twenty-hectares, of which eighty are vineyards and the balance is for olive groves and borders two districts; Valtanesi and Lugana. Lake Garda is Italy’s largest lake and it splits up two DOC areas; Lombardy and Veneto.  In 2017, Garda DOC combined with Valtanesi and Riviera del Gard Bresciano to become the Riviera del Garda Classico DOC.  The fruit is hand harvested with a soft pressing in Nitrogen saturation.  The initial fermentation is for about fifteen days, and then aging in Stainless Steel for five months, with an additional bottle aging for three months.  The wine was a pretty golden color with notes of pear and golden apples, and on the palate, great citrus flavor and acidity and a finish of fruit. 

For the main dishes my Bride went with some tried and true and one new dish.  She made a classic Roast Beef with roasted vegetables and gravy with mashed potatoes.  She made her Bourbon Salmon, Armenian Pilaf, Candied Carrots and Fennel and Onions.  This time she also tried Braising Center Cut Pork Chops in a Port-Fig Sauce.  She also made her own Cream Puffs to go with Hot Fudge and Ice Cream.  I brought up from the cellar a bottle of Langtry Estate & Vineyards Guenoc Victorian Claret North Coast 2007.  Lillie Langtry the famous British actress bought the estate in the Guenoc Valley in 1888 and introduced vineyards in the area.  The property is over twenty-three-thousand acres going from Lake County to northern Napa Valley.  The winery was built in 1981 and looks like another barn on the property.  It is now owned by Foley Family Wines.  A proprietary red wine and is a blend of Petite Sirah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Malbec.  The nice dark claret wine offered notes of black fruit, cloves, tea and vanilla.  On the palate were tones of black cherry, raspberry and blueberry with soft tannins and a medium finish of spices. Father’s Day will be a brunch.