Before you rip open a box and sit down to polish off a whole sleeve, consider washing those Thin Mints down with something other than milk. Because in a world obsessed with pairing food and wine, including good ol’ Girl Scout cookies in the game has evolved into an adult-oriented art form.
Cranberry Citrus Crisps™
A sweet addition for the new cookie season is this crispy cookie that’s made with whole grain and is full of tangy cranberry bits and zesty citrus flavor. Since this cookie is made with real cranberry fruit, my first thought is a pinot noir – specifically, the 2011 Toluca Lane Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley, Oregon. Its alluring perfume is filled with black currants, chocolate and soft caramel. The palate evolves into dark currants, red cherries, cranberry and caramel flavors with a smooth, silky texture and a long baking-spice finish. $25
(Photo: Courtesy Girl Scouts Facebook)
Photo: Courtesy Girl Scouts Facebook
Rah-Rah Raisins™
Made with whole grain oats, these new hearty oatmeal cookies are packed with plump raisins and Greek yogurt-flavored chunks. I think that a premium fine muscat would be a perfect foil to the multifaceted textures found in this cookie.
The R.L. Buller & Son Premium Fine Muscat is a complex, highly aromatic, full-bodied dessert wine. It’s created using traditional production methods — it’s matured in a solera system of fractional blending in oak barrels. As the mature wine is drawn off for bottling, it is replaced with wine from the new vintage. This ensures a consistent blend of the older material with the fresh new wine.
It sports lively notes of raisin, toffee, caramel, molasses and roasted nuts on the nose, and the palate is accented by a hint of coffee, chocolate and candied orange peel linger on the finish. $16 for a half-bottle.
(Photo: WTOP Screen Shot)
Photo: WTOP Screen Shot
Lemonades™
This is a tangy lemon-icing-topped shortbread cookie, so it needs something with citrus notes, acidity and bubbles to cut the richness and complement the lemony component.
I think the bubbles in the Non-Vintage La Tordera Grej Spumante sparkling wine will do just the trick. It’s a delicious, round and soft Prosecco sparkling wine that features a perfumed nose of citrus-centric fruit. The flavors of creamy lemon and bright green apple are balanced by the lively acidity on the elegant, crisp finish. $14
(Photo: Associated Press)
Photo: Associated Press
Thin Mints™
No review of Girl Scout cookies would be complete without including everyone’s favorite: Thin Mints. These wafer thin, mint-centric cookies are covered in rich chocolate. Such a classic combo of flavors needs to be paired with a wine that complements the chocolate notes and plays well with the minty characteristic.
Last year, I suggested a Shiraz from Australia, but this year I am going with a dark, brooding Cabernet Sauvignon from South Africa. The 2011 Thelema “The Mint” Cabernet Sauvignon from the Stellenbosch region of South Africa is bold and intense, and made for this cookie! It boasts concentrated flavors of cassis, plum, mocha and dark chocolate, accented by complex expressions of cocoa and mint on the long finish. $32
(Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
Photo by John Moore/Getty Images
Samoas™
This cookie is reminiscent of a coconut macaroon with a layer of chocolate and caramel. My bet would be a dessert wine from either the Barsac or Sauternes regions of Bordeaux, France, or a high-end Tokaji from Hungary, with an abundant acidity that can cut through the rich coconut and caramel flavors and concentrated nut/apricot/caramel flavors that will pair beautifully with the flavors of the cookie.
Try the 2005 Chateau Coutet from the Barsac region. It’s an unctuous wine that exhibits aromas of roasted apricots and honeyed peaches on the nose and flavors of apricots, lychee nuts and a hint of coconut on the long, beautifully balanced finish. $35
(Photo: Courtesy Girl Scouts Facebook)
WASHINGTON — It’s that time of year again: the time when young women in familiar green uniforms descend upon the front doors of homes and storefronts, coaxing a few dollars from patrons in exchange for a feel-good box of cookies.
Yes — the Girl Scouts are on the cookie march again, and never has supporting a worthy cause and indulging in a guilty pleasure felt so right.
But before you rip open a box and sit down to polish off a whole sleeve, consider washing those Thin Mints down with something other than milk. Because in a world obsessed with pairing food and wine, including good ol’ Girl Scout cookies in the game has evolved into an adult-oriented art form.
In order to find the right wine to match up with the right cookie, you need to consider flavor, sweetness and texture. Here are a few pairings that are sure to enhance the next PTA meeting in your neighborhood – or just another Tuesday evening.
