F0r our eighth annual Girl Scout cookie wine tasting this past weekend, and we had two brand new Girl Scout cookies in the lineup: Toffee-tastic and Smores! So we needed to figure out what paired best with what across 8 cookies and 6 wines! We had our work cut out for us. Many people would be scared off by such an arduous task. But we had a dedicated group of tasters who took the work very seriously 😉
Our Approach to a Girl Scout Cookie Wine Tasting
We started the tasting in a traditional way, tasting each wine with wine-friendly appetizers (cheese, crackers and fruit). We then embarked on the wine and cookie pairing, letting everybody try every wine with every cookie in the order they chose.
The Wines
Because wines should be sweeter than the desserts they are served with, I selected WineShop At Home’s sweeter offerings:
- Le Cadeau Semi-Seco Sparkling – This sparkling wine offers a nice balance of sweetness and acidity, with aromas of green apple, pear, flowers, orange and anise.
- Moderna Artist White Blend – This is a blend of 60% Muscat of Alexandria and 40% Symphony. It is a floral wine with aromas and flavors of daffodil, honeysuckle, lychee, pineapple, apple cider and spiced pears.
- Fleaur Bleu Riesling – This perfect combination of sweetness and acidity features flavors of lemon, lime, apple and orange marmalade.
- Lumiere De Vie Reflexion – An easy-drinking Rosé that has a nice sweetness to it.
- Table Red – Our porch-pounding, food-friendly Table Red is a blend of 40% Zinfandel, 19% Merlot, 15% Barbera, 10% Sangiovese, 8% Cabernet Franc and 8% Cabernet Sauvignon. With this wine, you get a lot of berries coupled with chocolate and light oak toast.
- Ceres Decadence – This dessert wine was enhanced with chocolate flavors. Believe it or not, the wine has 10 grapes in it (from a lot to a little): Malbec, Merlot, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Tempranillo. WOW! But the chocolate is very prominent. It’s a really fun combination of berries and chocolate.
The Cookies
We tasted eight Girl Scout cookies:
- Savannah Smiles – Lemon-flavored dusted with powdered sugar
- Do-Si-Do – Peanut butter sandwich cookie
- Tagalong – Layer of peanut butter covered in chocolate
- Samoa – Toasted coconut, caramel and chocolate
- Trefoil – Traditional shortbread
- Thin Mint – Mint-flavored covered with chocolate
- Toffee-Tastic – Toffee through and through
- Smores – This sandwich cookie has marshmallow on the inside
The Wine Results
The wines that went with the most cookies were Le Cadeau Semi-Seco Sparkling and Lumiere de Vie Reflexion. The Sparkling went best with Samoa and Toffee-Tastic, followed by Do-Si-Do, and went worst (got the most negatives votes) with Thin Mint. The Reflexion went best with Samoa and almost no negative votes.
The Cookie Results
The cookies that went with the most wines were Samoa and Do-Si-Do. As usual, Thin Mints were the most challenging cookie to pair. The only wine that got 2 positives for this cookie was the Moderna Artist White Blend.
Wrapping Up
I can’t tell you how much fun it is to do a Girl Scout Cookie wine tasting. Hopefully many of you have tried it. If you haven’t, and would like to do this next year, please let me know.
Cheers!
As an independent wine consultant with WineShop At Home, I absolutely enjoy bringing a taste of the Napa wine country home to you one sip at a time. Whether you simply love to drink wine, seek a special personalized wine gift, or are in search of a new wine jobs opportunity as a wine consultant, feel free to contact me for a truly unique wine tasting experience!
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