Thin Mint & Wine Pairing

For the past couple of years, since joining Pinterest, I've seen memes featuring wine & Girl Scout cookie pairings. Most feature a particular grape recommended but not a label or vintage. I've wanted to host my own wine & cookie pairing but was a little overwhelmed at the prospect of inviting friends over and hoping the pairing will work. Now I realize that some of the fun in these pairing is finding the ones that work, but I didn't want to take the chance that none of them would or one would be a busy merely because I picked the wrong Chardonnay or Merlot. So of course, this means I MUST try them first. I am attempting to keep the wines affordable and easy to find in a small town like this.

I assumed the Thin Mint would be the most difficult. After all, the Thin Mint has a strong minty taste and smell and could easily overpower or clash with a wine. Most memes suggested a Merlot, which I thought might be tricky. After all Merlot has quite the range -- light to heavy, and lots of pairing options. 

Then Diane decided to try the Clos du Bois Red Blend with her own Thin Mints. She said the pairing worked so I decided to look for the wine in town. And I was able to find it at the Brookings Liquor store for $11.99. The liquor store had quite a few different Clos du Bois wines.

On its own, this is a nice blend. Some black cherry and vanilla to sweeten. It would be nice with pizza or on a quiet afternoon. But adding the Thin Mint takes this wine to the next level. The cookie brings out the vanilla in the wine and the wine brings out the chocolate in the cookie. The pairing also gives the wine a nice mouth feel, not too dry, lengthening the finish of the wine.

I'm very happy with this first pairing attempt and can't wait to share it with my friends at my live pairing!

I think my next attempt will be the Shortbread with a New Age Rose.