Ginger Molasses Cookies

We are slowly working our way through the boxes of cookies we received a while ago. Recently we decided to try the Ginger Molasses Cookies from Cookies and Corks. We decided to pair them with the 2011 Green from Cardinal Point Vineyard and Winery. The Green is a blend of 50% Chardonnay and 50% Petit Manseng. The wine wheel/cookie combination suggested a chardonnay. Even though the Green isn’t all Chardonnay, we thought we’d try it anyway.

Warren is the tasting expert. He suggested getting our palates wet with the wine and then tasting the cookie. The ginger of the cookie was pretty strong but notes of pineapple, pear, and mango were evident. The tropical notes from the petit manning as well as the ripe pear elements from the chardonnay play well with the ginger spice of the cookies. I thought the ginger was a bit overwhelming but Warren thought the flavors played well together.

We have plenty of cookies yet to taste so stay tuned for future posts. And we’ve been told the 2012 Green has been released so we will need to try this new vintage. If you visit Cardinal Point anytime soon be sure to check out the 2012 Green and tell them Virginia Wine Time sent you!

Cookies and Wine

Back in October when we attended the Virginia wine tastings at Whole Foods, we ran into Leah Kuo and Laura Englander from Cookies and Corks. They make cookies that pair with wines. What a great idea! That night they were offering tastings of their cookies with non-Virginia wines. We tried a few of the cookies with the wines and really enjoyed them. The cookies brought out different elements in the wine. During our conversations and tastings with them, we thought we could pair their cookies with Virginia wines. They sent us three boxes of cookies that pair with red, white, and sparkling wines. We decided to give it a try and pair some Virginia wines with the different cookies.

One of the great things about their cookies is they provide a pairing wheel. You simply look up the kind of wine you are having and select the cookies that go with that wine. We decided to do just that. We began our evening with the 2011 Reserve Chardonnay from Jefferson Vineyards. The cookie we selected to pair with the wine (according to the wheel) was the Apricot Sage cookie from the box of cookies to be paired with white wines. We began by tasting the cookie to get a baseline for the flavors. Obviously the apricot and sage flavors were evident. Then we washed the wine over our palates and other flavors began to appear. We noted lots pear notes with a twist of citrus which played off the sage really well. The apricot flavor wasn’t as present as we thought it might be with the wine but the reserve nature of the wine may have minimized the apricot flavor. However, the presence of the sage and citrus notes were a pleasant surprise. We thought the cookies paired very well with Reserve Chardonnay from Jefferson Vineyards. Make note of this if you plan to check out the cookies and need a wine to pair with them.

After our dinner we decided to select another cookie to pair with our dinner wine, the 2009 Merlot from Pollak Vineyards. Referring to the wheel again, we selected the Expresso Chocolate Peanut Butter cookie. This time we went with the wine first to get the wine notes on our palates before introducing the cookie flavors. We noted the wine brought the nuttiness forward and then red berry notes came through. The peanut butter flavor soon disappeared and the tasting experience ended with the coffee and chocolate notes. The chocolaty berry flavors together made for a nice dessert type experience. Once again we decided this was a good pairing. Warren enjoyed the pairing so much he finished off the cookies as he finished off the wine!

Since we’ve only tried two of the many flavors of cookies to pair with wines, there will be posts in the future as we pair more Virginia wines with more of the cookies from the different boxes. If you are looking for a unique pairing of sweets and Virginia wines be sure to pick up a few boxes of these cookies and several bottles of Virginia wine. You can purchase them in many locations in Virginia or from their website. And when you do, tell them you read about them on Virginia Wine Time!