A very special guide to pairing wine and this spring's blooms

We too are wearing sweaters. We too are looking at the single-digit celsius numbers and grinning forcefully, as we bare our ankles too soon. But the truth is, spring is coming and with it, a bunch of flowers we will all Instagram with a feeling that is close to joy. We want to help you take your love of flowers to the next level! Do you ever buy yourself corner-store tulips and wonder, 'what wine would complement this simple joy?'. Or watch your first ever crocus' bloom from the snow (!) and feel a sudden, but undeniable thirst overtake you? What's that? You've never even considered such a preposterous idea!? Well, to be honest, we completely understand, but nevertheless present a guide for celebrating spring flowers through wine! The guide you did not even know you needed awaits.

Daffodils x Chardonnay

Ah, daffodils! You know them; usually yellow, sometimes white, a beautiful trumpet-shaped corona in their centre announcing their arrival, as if we would not notice them. Daffodils are perennials (aka they bloom over spring, die back every autumn and re-emerge from their rootstock the following spring like magic). Daffodils have been known and celebrated since ancient civilizations and it is no surprise they are in the Narcissus family, named after the Greek youth who fell in love with his own reflection. The flower community is frankly jealous of daffodils and their showy beauty, often blooming in clusters — but it is not all daisies (lol sorry) for our Prom Queen. She has a lot of insects and threats who give her a hard time. She is a survivor a Beyonce.

Contemplate her with a new-world oaked Chardonnay, the Prom Queen of the wine world.

Everyone loves to hate Chardonnay. 'It's too much', they groan! 'I hate when it is oaked', they whine. Listen: Chardonnay is a grape that simply loves oak. The vanilla, toasted flavours fit her apple, pear, tropical fruit bodice like a glove. Yes, she is a lot to handle, but there is nothing wrong with being unapologetically pleasurable and full of delicious flavour. Pick up a good one from regions near and far: Niagara, Prince Edward County, Russian River Valley, Carneros, Oregon, New Zealand, Australia! I mean, you've got options! Pair with fire-planked salmon and a pashmina on a cool spring night.

Cherry blossoms x Lambrusco

Cherry blossoms are movingly beautiful and have a lot to teach us. Some history: several species of trees produce cherry blossoms, but the most famous is the Japanese sakura. The cherry blossom is one of Japan's national flowers and is primarily cultivated for its beauty, most varietals producing no cherries at all. Every year thousands flock to the blooming trees to picnic underneath them, a practice so beloved it has its own name: hanami. For the Japanese, the flowers symbolize the ephemeral nature of life. The blossoms bloom en masse, forming thick beautiful sheets of delicate pink coating the sky, a daydream brought to life. But no sooner do they bloom then they quickly fall coating the grass, the street, the cars, the sidewalk, our psyches. Their transient beauty teaches us to accept and appreciate what we cannot control. Some of the most beautiful moments in life pass in a flash. Just because we cannot hold onto them does not mean that they are not infinitely worthy and beautiful.

Take their natural pairing (other than duh, sake!), Lambrusco.

Lambrusco is the name of an Italian red wine grape and a wine made primarily from that grape in the Emilia-Romagna region. It is a frothy, deeply red sparkling wine that is often a bit sweet, but increasingly balanced and delicate in flavours. Little is more joyous than red sparkling wine. It begs to be enjoyed cold, popped open with a flourish and guzzled amongst friends — drained instantly or spilled apologetically on a white dress. This bottle, like the cherry blossom, will be short lived, but its pleasure will keep you young and hopeful.

Tulips x Pet Nat

Brightly coloured tulips in convenient-store buckets are a glorious sight and consistently the best thing we spend $7 on. Tulips are large, showy and brightly coloured perennials. They are generally red, white and yellow, the colours of the Canadian flag + happiness. They often have a different coloured blotch at the base of their tepals making them even nicer to look at. The author may have spent 3 hours reading about their history (it is too easy!) which she found intoxicating. A synopsis: the name 'tulip' popped up around the 10th century and derives from the Persian word for Turban, which the flower was thought to resemble. This linguistic similarity could also be an ancient translation error, tulips were often worn in the tulips of powerful men.

More tulip trivia?! Tulip Mania is a period in the Dutch Golden Age where tulips became extraordinarily popular and extraordinarily priced before crashing in dramatic fashion in 1637. This is the first documented bubble, a socio-economic phenomenon where prices deviated from their intrinsic value before falling at once. These days they bloom around the world, flowering in spring and dormant in the summer.  

Try them with a Pet Nat, a petillant naturel, a joyous style of wine we have talked about before, which like tulips, has a similarly tumultuous history, first produced in the 16th century, before falling out of fashion and finally becoming celebrated once more. Pet Nat-mania is upon us! Unfiltered, personality-filled, sparkling examples can be found on cool wine lists everywhere and will be the coolest over-$7 you have ever spent.

Crocuses x Sauvignon Blanc

The crocus is one of the earliest bloomers in spring, they can be seen popping out of the snow, a glimmer of beauty and hope in a dark time. They are low-growing, clump-forming perennial plants in the iris family. They are shaped like an elegant tube and can be white, mauve, lavender, yellow or even striped! They simply refuse to conform to just one colour, or be confined to just one area! Find them growing everywhere from woodlands to coastal gardens to your very own lawn. What we mean is, they are adaptable. They don't take up a lot of space and there are 30 different varietals, each blooming at slightly different times, creating a spectacular effect of continual beauty. They were one of the first bulbs brought to the new world and they love a cold winter.

Too good to be true right? Did we mention they need very little maintenance to thrive? I mean, dream flower. Pair them with a popular and delicious hearty grape that grows and thrives around the globe and tastes great in spring. Sauvignon Blanc will refresh and delight you: a first bloom for your palate, piercing acidity waking you from your winter slumber. Depending on where it is grown Sauvignon Blanc will be full of minerality and the taste of wet stones (Sancerre!), be a lemon-drop mouthwatering candy (Chile) or an elderflower at a gooseberry symposium (New Zealand). It changes its flavours to reflect its home, but is always a pleasure to drink in large quantities.

Common bluebell x Mencia

There is nothing common about this dramatic starlet. A bulbous perennial, she is found in Atlantic areas from north-west Spain to the British Isles. Find her nodding knowingly, her one side weighted down with 5 - 12 sweet scented, violet-blue tubulars. Each flower has a curved, flippy base, which reminds us of a flirty skirt or the way certain dances make us feel.

Bluebells are popular around the world, but perhaps most beloved in the British Isles where they are a protected plant and certain woodlands are covered with them in a spectacular fashion. Their roots dig deep and they reproduce quickly. Their natural pairing is a wine that often tastes how blue makes us feel. Meet Mencia. A grape native to northwest Spain that is meaty, lifted and spicy. It is a sausage stuffed with herbs. A scholarly earth worm who eats only lavender. A violet leather jacket on the road trip of their life. We mean, it is complex. It is breathtaking. It is both light and dark, elegant, but firm. Blue.

Nicole Campbell is obsessed with wine and flowers. She has a WSET diploma and no flower certification. While not in tulip wormholes she imports cool wine at Lifford and hosts witchy wine parties and education events as a Grape Witch. She is always casting spells and invites you to join her.