A toast to mom!
Don't tell me you don't feel like reviewing some of the series that have marked you, or take a look at the one you've been told about but at the time you were caught watching the end of Game of Thrones...
Well, it's time to pick up the phone, call your mother and propose a sofa plan and series that they are not her last hit, but that they are going to make you enjoy her, above all, because you are with her, calmly, watching episode after episode and having a glass of wine.
You can't ask for more from a Mother's Day perfect.
downton abbey
QUINTA CLARISA 2020 & 'DOWNTON ABBEY' (Julian Fellowes, 2010)
The delicious series created in 2010 by Julian Fellowes transported us to a universe of aristocratic glamor not exempt from intrigues, loves and heartbreaks and a sly English humor.
We suffer with the adventures of the Crawley family as if they were our ancestors, and we spend sorrows and joys with the members of his service, from the love affairs of Anna and Mr. Bates to the sinister intentions of Mr. Barrow or the innocence of Daisy, the assistant of Ms. Patmore.
Well, nothing better than enjoying its magnificent production and that impressive costume design with your mother and a wine that suits her perfectly, Quinta Clarisa 2020 (Belondrade, VT Castilla y León, €11.40) , Tempranillo rosé that plays at being a red: floral, tremendously fruity, intense, vibrant… pure action in the glass and, by the way, elegantly dressed in a pale burgundy red.
belondrade
Fifth Poor Clare 2020
FLOWER OF XAREL LO 2020 & 'SUCCESSION' (Jesse Armstrong, 2018)
A successful series set in the media emporium and entertainment that you can't stop watching and discussing with your mother: money, intrigues, if this one is terrible, then this one is worse...
I can already imagine you chattering while you uncork the Xarel lo flower from Espiells de Juvé & Camps (DO Penedès, €10.25) and, without realizing it, you have drunk it without having finished the first season.
This aromatic xarel lo, light on the palate and super floral, is drunk almost on its own, between talk and talk and chapter and chapter, although to complete the pairing, some good butter popcorn is not too much. And to rant about the protagonists has been said.
Juvé & Camps
Xarel lo flower from Espiells de Juvé & Camps
VIÑA ALBERDI 2016 & 'THE MAID'S TALE' (Bruce Miller, 2017)
If you haven't seen it yet, Mother's Day is a wonderful occasion to press play with this series inspired by Margaret Atwood's book.
Of course, prepare to suffer a little with the incredible (or not so much?) story of the dystopian society in which Gilead, the protagonist, and servant, of the series and the novel, has to survive. A series of those here await you, which will make you bite your nails or nibble the fringes of the blanket on the sofa.
The Handmaid's Tale
To cope with the toughest moments, that there are, of this series masterfully performed by Elisabeth Moss, nothing better than a red that does not fail, which you can hold on to in those critical scenes that I am not going to reveal here.
Alberdi Vineyard (DOC Rioja, €10.50) , one of the most affordable wines from La Rioja Alta, a breed with fruit, balance and power, perfectly withstands the tension of this exciting series. To uncork it has been said.
High Rioja
Alberdi Vineyard
ARRAYÁN ROSÉ DE GARNACHA & 'FLEABAG' (Phoebe Waller-Bridge, 2016)
At the moment it only has two seasons, but this delicious series with a British accent presents us a curious woman who counts on the spectators (your mother and you, in this case) when recounting her comings and goings: she is unstable, she has been through a hard trauma and claims her femininity and her right to be chaotic.
Myrtle
Rosé myrtle grenache
Come on, she's like a lot of us, or almost all of us, and surely your mother loves discovering her and enjoying her with her smart and acid humor. As she will love that you bring her the newest Arrayán Rosado de Garnacha 2020 (DO Méntrida, €13.9), a recently released rosé made with peluda grenache that, under its friendly pink color, hides a wine with a lot of volume and personality, rich, fruity, fun, with fresh acidity (pure Fleabag) and very well built. A bit like the protagonist of this series that you will not regret having seen with mom.
A still from 'Fleabag'.
VIORE 2020 & 'MODERN FAMILY' (Christopher Lloyd & Steven Levitan, 2009)
Let's see. On Mother's Day, as much as you want, you can't watch the eleven seasons of this series, even if its chapters last just over 20 minutes. But surely you and your mother want to laugh for a while for no reason and at the somewhat absurd humor of this series that narrates the intertwined and parallel lives of a family of twelve members, Not counting Stella, Jay Pritchett's dog, the patriarch of an atypical unit made up of a remarried wife, children, husbands and wives of the children, adopted and own grandchildren, children of the second wife...
Come on, what has been a family that even in 2009, when the series was created, sounded more modern than it may seem to us now. But equally, its chapters, light and sometimes bordering on the absurd, are a delight, perfect to enjoy with a snack and Viore 2020 (DO Bierzo, €7.95), a Mencia red that is very affordable for the pocket and for the palate, with a lot of fruit, nice and friendly, which you want to drink between episodes.
Rioja Wineries
See 2020
LA ENCINA DEL INGÉS 2020 & 'GIRLS' (Lena Dunham, 2012)
The acclaimed series created by Lena Dunham and inspired in part by real episodes of her own life It will catch you and your mother hopelessly because, one way or another, you will see yourself in one of the characters.
Although some or all of them are slightly dysfunctional, they are also tremendously human and sometimes, even cuddly, although other times what you want is to slap them lightly.
girls
To better spend this series that could be placed at the antipodes of Sex in New York (although it does not avoid references to this television myth) there is nothing better than a surprising white man from Malaga like La Encina del Inglés, 2020 (DO Sierras de Málaga, €10.50), a wine behind which there is also a female hand, that of the oenologist Ana de Castro, and that is made with Moorish muscatel, pedro ximénez and doradilla, a curious and unusual trio that results in Lots of fruit, sensuality and freshness. Come on, it's perfect for each chapter of this comedy with a dramatic point and a lot of authenticity.
The Oak of the English
The Oak of the English
The Oak of the English
BOLLINGER RD 2007 & 'ELITE' (Carlos Montero and Darío Madrona, 2018)
The first Spanish series on the list, which tells the school life of the students of the elite Las Encinas school. Almost all the protagonists are rich children with many secrets to hide and hide, and they are forced to share a classroom with scholarship students who belong to another social class.
The problems between them are the sauce of the series, and things are getting very complicated and reaching the murder of one of the protagonists. The intrigues happen and you and your mother can't help but be on one side or the other, and alternate at every moment because sometimes not everything is as it seems.
Come on, to accompany it you need a good high-class champagne like Bollinger R.D. (AOC Champagne, €230), whose initials mean "Recently Degollado" (but this is not a spoiler for the series, calm down).
This procedure, the recent disgorgement, preserves an elegant freshness and also lets you savor its original complexity, the one given by the vintage and the masterful combination of pinot noir and chardonnay. You and your mother will feel like part of the Las Encinas student body walking through one of their parties next to the luxurious swimming pools of their mansions.
Bollinger R.D. 2007
TÍO PEPE EN RAMA & 'THE MINISTRY OF TIME' (Javier Olivares, 2015)
If neither your mother nor you have seen it, it's the same time. And if you do consider yourself to be one of the "ministerial" gang, then this Mother's Day is also a good opportunity to review the adventures of the most extraordinary officials that exist, capable of travel through time to try to prevent history from changing its course and the future from disappearing.
Ingenious plot and excellent performances for a series that, at least, must be given a chance. Since you have to give it to the sherry, and for that, you can start, mom and churumbel (of legal age, eye) by this Tío Pepe en Rama (DO Jerez, €15.40), fresh, tasty, saline and mineral, that you can accompany with some fried almonds and a snack of Iberian ham. And devour one episode after another passing the hours.
Uncle Pepe in Rama 2021
THE DOCUMENTARY: 'WHAT THE OCTOPUS TAUGHT ME' (Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed, 2020) & WHITE SILICA 2019
Spend some tender time with your mother with this delightful (and incredible) story of friendship between a man looking to meet again and an octopus. Yes, an octopus. Well, or a pulp, because the co-star of this aesthetic and narrative beauty is a female octopus, who has us all the time intrigued to know her reactions and her exciting ability to make friends with diver (and filmmaker) Craig Foster.
The film won an Oscar in the last edition for best documentary, so it deserves a review, or a viewing for the first time, together with an intense and at the same time fresh wine like **White Silica 2019 (€20), a white of different varieties from the Ribeira Sacra region mineral, pleasant, citric and enveloping in the mouth.** Both the documentary and the wine will leave you wanting more. As you can see, we are facing the typical white + octopus pairing… Oh wait!
In short, have a magnificent day and rich wines with your mom or, if you are a mother yourself, enjoy it and treat yourself to that wine you longed to uncork.
Silica white 2019