You can have wine pairings about anything so why not include the best wine pairings for your first year as a parent? Parenting is hard, especially when you have a newborn or baby in the house. You need some wine.
The Best Wine Pairings for your First Year as a Parent
Whether you’re shopping for new moms and dads or you’re a new parent yourself, you’re probably wondering what kind of wine is best suited to drink after hour 4 of a screaming baby or after a first day back to work. As a parent of 5 myself, I know these feelings all too well.
If you’re a parent you might think that any wine is good wine when you have a baby. Just because your entire life is dedicated to this tiny human and all your other standards have dropped doesn’t mean they need to when it comes to wine.
Wine for your baby shower
Since babies are something to be celebrated you should probably include some kind of Sparkling wine or champagne at this party.
Sometimes baby showers take place before the baby is born, so mom probably shouldn’t drink alcoholic wine. Thankfully there are lots of great non-alcoholic sparkling options like Pierre Chavin Zero Non-Alcoholic Rosé Wine.
If you’re looking for a cute baby shower favour, a mini bottle of sparkling wine with a tag that says the mom “is about to pop” is super cute. Because you pop the cork. Get it?
Wine for the end of a long day at home with your baby
This is where you’ll want to reach for that cheap boxed wine, what can be picked up on the way home, or whatever you happen to have on hand. The key to surviving this stage of parenting is to make sure you have good wine on hand and aren’t picking it up in desperation.
I get it, you want to have a glass (or bottle) of wine at the end of long day to relax. The trick is to use it to wind down and not to numb the idea that you’ll probably be doing this all again tomorrow. It’s a fine line between unwinding and alcoholism, my friend.
So open up a bottle of classic Pinot Noir, run yourself a nice bubble bath, and make your partner watch the baby monitor for awhile.
The wine for when you’ve been up. all. night. long.
How is that baby still awake? If you’re tired (and cranky) it’s tempting to reach for a glass of wine while your baby happily coos at 1 in the morning. The problem with wine, though, is that grapes contain melatonin, which makes you sleepy.
So if you’re looking to not fall asleep even though that’s all you want to do right now, choose white wine over red, since it makes you less sleepy. Or, if you live in Ireland or the UK, Buckfast Tonic Wine has caffeine in it.
The best wine for your first baby-free night
Without the baby around you’re probably wanting to let loose. I’m not sure about you, but for me that means get so drunk I forget I have adult responsibilities. For that I need alcohol, and lots of it. Normally I wouldn’t suggest you drink cheap wine but in this case you might want to make an exception.
Get a long straw and pop that baby inside a box of wine for the world’s greatest mommy sippy cup. Black Box wine is a great brand of boxed wine because even with a baby you’re still a good wine kind of person.
Wine for when you and your spouse get into a fight because you’re both exhausted and taking it out on each other
You got in a fight with your spouse. It happens. Babies are stressful and the first year is a huge adjustment for both parents. Since running away for a spa weekend isn’t an option you venture down to the wine cellar (or local liquor store) to pick up some post-argument calm down juice.
The best part about arguing is the make up sex so turn to a glass of red while you calm down. The polyphenols in it act as an aphrodisiac so you make up in time to catch Game of Thrones together.
Wine for your first Mother’s Day (or Father’s Day)
It’s such a wonderful occasion in your first year of parenting to celebrate the very first Mother’s Day or Father’s Day as a parent. Plan a nice sunday brunch with your own parent and serve up something a little fancy for a multi-generational celebration.
For brunch you might want to serve a nice chardonnay. This is a special occasion so you should definitely splurge on a nice bottle. Depending on your tastes you can also make some delicious chardonnay mimosas instead.
The wine for when your baby becomes mobile and there’s a mess everywhere
Your baby started crawling and is suddenly able to get around. Cute! Except now they find themselves in the bathroom unraveling toilet paper, in the kitchen dumping out the cupboards, and just anywhere babies shouldn’t be.
Wade through the toys to your liquor cabinet and pour yourself a nice glass of Port. Why port? It has a higher alcohol content than other wines and you need something that will do the trick quick. You’re busy.
Best wine for the first birthday party
Even if you don’t invite a bunch of other 1 year olds to celebrate this day is probably going to be hell. Between relatives, too many gifts, and probably a few tantrums from your baby no one will blame you if you need drink.
Riesling pairs well with vanilla birthday cake, so go with that. I’m not advocating getting drunk at your baby’s first birthday or anything but pour that glass extra full.
First year as a parent wine shopping list:
- Sparkling wine or champagne
- Pinot noir
- Any white wine you love or UK Buckfast Tonic Wine
- A big box of wine for emergencies
- Your favourite red wine
- Chardonnay
- Port
- Riseling
Basically what I’m getting at here is before your baby comes, or as a baby gift to someone else, stock up on wine. All the wine. Every kind of wine. You’re going to need it.
Want more wine humor? We’ve also reviewed the best wines at the gas station.
