Pairing Girl Scout Cookies with Wine

We held our ninth annual Girl Scout Cookie wine tasting last weekend. Our biggest challenge each year, when pairing Girl Scout Cookies with wine, is figuring out what wine goes best with Thin Mints. I’m excited to share all of our results with you.

Our Approach to Pairing Girl Scout Cookies with Wine

We started with a traditional wine tasting, pairing the wines with wine-friendly foods – specifically, 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 ($24.50) – This sparkling wine offers a nice balance of sweetness and acidity, with aromas of green apple, pear and flowers with hints of orange and lemon zest.
• Broadmoore Estates White Trails ($21.50) – This is a sweet white blend of Riesling, Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc. The nose explodes with ripe pineapple, lemon, mango and kiwi aromas. There is a nutty, almost savory component, with notes of walnut, pecan and almond. The mouth is very round and opulent but also refreshing with a crisp acidity.
• Lumière de Vie Revelation ($21.50) – This is a white blend made from 50% Sauvignon Blanc and 50% Muscat grapes from the Lodi region. This off-dry wine reveals aromas of fresh tropical fruit such as pineapple, mango and guava. Later, apple and pear flavors followed by orange zest enhance the bouquet. It has a rich and syrupy nose. The attack in the mouth is round, almost sweet, with a pronounced minerality.
• Table Red ($48.00 for 3 bottles) – Our porch-pounding, food-friendly Table Red is a blend of 75% Ruby Cabernet, 20% Petit Verdot and 5% Merlot and has a deep purple color with a nose of red fruit, including raspberry, sweet red beets and cherry. These characters evolve into earthy tones and woodsy aromas. Earthy flavors come forward in the attack in the mouth. This wine has a medium body, a pleasant mouthfeel and a good amount of intensity with some sweetness in the mid-palate and finish.
• Terroir Cellars Malbec ($29.00) – Our Argentinian Terroir Cellars Malbec has a deep, dark ruby red color with powerful aromas of black cherry and black currant. Later on, mature notes of tobacco, leather and toasted oak come forward in the nose. The mouthfeel is long and smooth with fresh red fruit flavors of strawberry in the attack. This wine displays a good amount of tannins and acidity, which provides elegance, balance and longevity.

The Cookies

We tasted eight yummy Girl Scout cookies:

• Samoa – Toasted coconut, caramel and chocolate
• b – Peanut butter sandwich cookie
• Thin Mint – Mint-flavored covered with chocolate
• Savannah Smiles – Lemon-flavored dusted with powdered sugar
• Tagalong – Layer of peanut butter covered in chocolate
• Trefoil – Traditional shortbread
• Toffee-Tastic – Toffee through and through
• Smores – This sandwich cookie has marshmallow on the inside

Bests of Show – Starting with the Cookies

The cookie that went with the most wines was Samoa. This was followed by Do-Si-Do and Toffee-Tastic. Here are the detailed results.

Bests of Show – Starting with the Wines

Believe it or not, the wine that went with the most cookies was the Terroir Cellars Malbec. This wasn’t our favorite wine, but in terms of pairing Girl Scout Cookies with wine, it was the best. Next best was Lumière de Vie Revelation followed by Le Cadeau Semi-Seco Sparkling. Here are the specific results.

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.

We were thrilled to find two wines that went quite well with the Thin Mint cookie. When pairing Girl Scout Cookies with wine, this is always the biggest challenge.

Cheers!