Girl Scout Wine Pairings, Ranked

Wine Club tackled one of the most blogged topics of the past couple years: Girl Scout Wine Pairings. Ever the intrepid winos, we sipped and nibbled and I'm happy to report, some of these were dreamy. Some were ghastly. 

Two things to know if you want to try it yourself:

1. Many of the so-called pairing lists published online include VERY expensive wines, so we made some quick substitutions to keep this within the realm of affordability.
2. This is obviously subjective. Some of us liked certain pairings more than others, which is to be expected. 

In order of favorite to least favorite:

1. Tagalongs with Capitel della Crosara Valpolicella Ripasso: Peanut butter jelly time! Peanut butter jelly time! This pairing was like a dream, with the grape flavor of the wine perfectly complimenting the smooth peanut butter of the tagalong like a grown-up version of a childhood favorite. We all took a bite and a sip and sighed with pleasure.
2. Rah Rah Raisins with Lataste Haute Medoc Bordeaux: Most of us had never tried the Rah Rah Raisins, which may take a truly adult palate to appreciate, but they were so delicious with this bordeaux, which makes sense when you consider raisins are just dried grapes. 
3. Trefoils with Rodney Strong Sauvignon Blanc: The crisp lemony sauvignon blanc was a perfect complement to the buttery sweet Trefoil, arguably one of the best mass-produced shortbread cookies around. 
4. Thin Mints with Sandeman Ruby Port: The recommended pairing was Brunello, which was not easy to find and pricey. But one of the articles I read said it was actually a gross pairing and recommended port instead. Port is WAY too sweet to do anything more than sip, but truly, the sip of port with a Thin Mint was surprisingly perfect. It somehow punctuated and brought out the mint flavor, and its sweetness contrasted nicely with the chocolate. 
5. Samoas with Castillo Clavijo Rioja Crianza: Samoas deserve better. The caramel-gooey-coconut goodness just didn't jive with this dry earthy red. The aftertaste was sour; neither flavor enhanced the other. 

Props to Melissa for a delicious spread, which included spinach and cheddar cheese spreads, cured meats, peppadews, pork chops and roasted potatoes. We ate like queens!