25 Best Wine And Spirit Gifts For Mother's Day 2023

If Napa Valley had a royal family, Robin Lail would be a member. The daughter of one of Napa's influential winemakers, John Daniel Jr., grew up amongst the vineyards of her family's Rutherford estate. After years of working in the region, including co-founding Merryvale and Dominus Estate in 1995, Lail and her two daughters began Lail Winery & Vineyards.

The name for the signature white wine is in honor of the family's first grandchild, Lail's granddaughter Georgia. Georgia is one of the finest sauvignon blanc wines in the world. It's easy to get lost in its elegance and complexity.

The dry-farmed Yountville-grown fruit is aged for 18 months in French oak, enhancing the texture and richness. The oak imparts creaminess and subtle spiciness, which melds with floral honeysuckle, lemon blossom, earthy truffle, and a note of minerality that lingers joyfully on the palate.

When the Champagne house Tattinger expanded into the United States, the family hand-selected California winemaker Eileen Crane to lead the Carneros estate. With Crane's guidance, Domaine Carneros has become one of the finest sparkling wine houses worldwide. After over 40 years, Crane retired in 2020, with another dynamic woman, Remi Cohen, replacing Crane as CEO.

The winery's signature sparkling wine, Le Reve, is the realization of Crane's exemplary expertise. Meaning "my dream," La Rêve Blanc de Blancs is a traditional method brut-style sparkling wine of 100% Chardonnay. The bubbly in the bottle ages at least six years, enriching its delicate grace and style, creating layers of brioche, blanched almond, golden apple, lemon curd, and fresh cream. It symbolizes Taittinger's commitment to producing premium wines in California.

Mezcal is rarely considered a delicate spirit. Instead, rugged, earthy, and rustic often describes the agave-based spirit hailing from Mexico. However, delicate is how we describe Doña Vega mezcal. When creator, Sonya Vega, set out to produce her mezcal, the criteria were simple, create a refined, elegant product with the characteristics of traditional mezcal without the overwhelmingly intense smokiness so often associated with the spirit.

Through countless taste tests and recipe renditions, Vega eventually came up with the final product thanks to the help of her female-led team of mezcaleras. Their process includes an extended growing cycle for the espadín agave, often eight or nine years. Slow roasting over low heat extracts the agave pina's sweetness. After fermentation and distillation, the mezcal ages in wooden barrels, adding creaminess. The result is smooth and rich, with just the right balance of smoke and spice.

If mom is a chardonnay fan, she will love a bottle of Stoller Dundee Hills chardonnay from Willamette Valley. The wine has a lovely crushed stone and herbaceous note, thanks to the mineral-rich Jory soil of the sustainably grown estate fruit. These flavors meld with golden stone fruit and bright lemon citrus. Crisp and refreshing, with intelligent use of neutral oak, concrete, and stainless steel, bring out the chardonnay's natural fruitiness and richness without overpowering the palate.

All Stoller Family Estates' wines come to fruition under the watchful eye of VP of Winemaking Melissa Burr. Burr has been with the estate from its beginning, consistently delivering delicious wines with character.

Founder Jill Kuehler's Meemaw is the inspiration behind Freeland Spirits. Fierce and full of spirit, Kuehler's grandmother instilled the principles of hard work in her granddaughter, teaching her early on that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing right.

Following this advice led Kuehler to create her Portland-based spirits company with the help of distiller Molly Troupe. When the duo began discussing the type of gin they wanted to make, Kuehler said she wanted it to have the aromas of her grandmother's garden. With that, they devised a way to use a hot and cold distillation method to ensure the gin had the freshness of soft herbs, cucumber, and citrus, along with the richness and flavor of spices, botanicals, and juniper provides. Freeland Gin delivers a harmonious balance of flavor, capturing Meemaw's garden.

Winemaker Elena Walch is an Italian architect by trade. She came to wine after she began the restoration of the historic Castel Ringberg in Italy's Trentino-Alto Adige. While working on the project, she saw the potential in the vineyards surrounding the property, and the proprietor, Werner Walch of Wilhelm Walch Winery. The two fell in love and got married.

Elena Walch became intrigued with winemaking, though instead of joining her husband's wine business, she chose to create her project. Elena Walch Wines launched with the help of her two daughters. Today, her lively, refreshing wines are among the region's finest.

Her Elena Walch pinot bianco comes from vineyards sitting 1,800 feet above sea level, ensuring acidity remains in the fruit, creating freshness in the wine. This liveliness marries with minerality from limestone-filled soils, lifting the crisp wine's palate.

Almost 10 years ago, Ali Smith Story and her husband, winemaker Eric Story, married and started a winery. Today their Smith Story Winery continues to inspire. After staying afloat during COVID-19, during which co-founder Ali Smith Story endured a long-fought battle with breast cancer, the duo's Northern California Winery produces exquisite wines predominantly from fruit coming from small family-owned vineyards. And most importantly, the love of the couple behind the wine is in every bottle.

Smith Story Helluva Vineyard pinot noir highlights the gorgeous fruit grown north of Sonoma in Anderson Valley. The wine is slightly rugged, with a note of dried leaves and forest floor, which melds with red berry, cherry, and black tea. Partially aged in new French oak, the appealing wine ends with a smooth, lingering finish.

If Mom loves something a bit outside the norm, give her a bottle of tequila from 21 Seeds. Founded by two sisters and one friend, 21 Seeds is shaking up  the liquor world with inventive flavored tequila selections.

Infusing citrus fruit and tropical flowers into 100% blue agave tequilas in Jalisco, Mexico, 21 Seeds Grapefruit Hibiscus is aromatic and light, with fruity sweetness without being cloying. At 70-proof, the liquor is lower in alcohol than typical tequila options. We love it in our Paloma cocktail or poured over ice with seltzer and lime for a highly refreshing drink.

Of everything you can give for Mother's Day, the one thing she will likely cherish the most is time for a chat with you. Enjoy this conversation with a bottle of The Discussion from Napa's Duckhorn Vineyards.

Margaret and Dan Duckhorn established their Napa Valley property almost 50 years ago. Today, winemaker Renee Ary oversees production, crafting delicious selections from the winery's estate vineyards.

The Discussion red blend of primarily Cabernet Sauvignon is a nod to traditional Old World cuvée blends while remaining entirely Californian. Juicy, rich, and brooding, the wine melds ripe black cherry, cassis, and graphite with chocolate, fresh cedar, and spice. It is a rich, opulent wine with a bold character, so allow it to breathe for a bit before enjoying it, extending that time Mom gets to talk with you.

The far northwest corner of Spain has one of the world's largest concentrations of female winemakers. Within the Galicia region known as Green Spain, just inland from the Atlantic Ocean, women account for over 50% of the winemakers. These women are crafting the zesty, refreshing albariño wines of Rias Baixas. Rias Baixas is so ideally situated for producing albariño due to its proximity to the ocean, bringing a note of brininess, and granite-filled soils, adding crushed stone minerality.

When the region became a designation of origin under E.U. wine law in 1988, Marisol Bueno of Pazo de Senorans was the first president of the Rias Baixas consortium and a dynamic leader of winemaking in the region. Pazo de Senorans harvests its grapes late in the season when the fruit is very ripe, bringing juicy fruit-forward flavor to the grape's natural acidity and briny character.

GlenDronach 15-year Revival scotch whisky is one of the finest single malt selections crafted in the Scottish Highlands under the watchful eye of master blender Dr. Rachel Barrie. Barrie grew up not far from the GlenDronach distillery. One of the few female master blenders in the world, Barrie is a disruptor with a delicate touch, bringing refinement, precision, and elegance to every dram. She has been a master blender for the past 20 years, joining GlenDronach in 2017.

GlenDronach's 15-year Revival single malt is an excellent representation of her pursuit of perfection. It's aged at least 15 years in a mix of oloroso and pedro ximinez sherry casks, imparting dried cherry, toasted spice, and toffee flavors. The cakes create a rich palate with a subtle sweetness not found in other single malts. Revival is an easy-sipping liquor, easily enjoyed neat.

Sisters Robin and Andréa McBride are daughters of the same biological father but did not grow up knowing each other. However, they shared more in common than they would have known, as both grew up in wine country. The two met in the late 1990s, and over the next few years, found a mutual connection over their love of wine.

In 2005, they turned their passions into profits, beginning one of the most impactful Black-owned businesses in the country. On May 8, the sisters will release their new reserve white wine, "Abalone or Paua?" It's a nod to their native roots (paua means abalone in New Zealand's native Māori). The fruit's Paso Robles' soil is filled with fossils and marine sediment from once being underwater. A blend of Rhone white varieties, the aromatic wine is available just in time for Mother's Day.

We are including a celebrity liquor in this year's selections as big and small screen stars continue influencing the field. Kate Hudson has hit gold with her King Street Vodka. The actor, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and mother has created a clean, fresh, easy-drinking vodka.

Crafted in Santa Barbara, the vodka is distilled no less than seven times before filtering. It is perfect for adding to classic vodka cocktails, including everything from a lemon drop to a dirty martini. And you'll be ready if your mother figure desires a Screwdriver cocktail during Mother's Day brunch instead of a traditional brunch mimosa.