Pairing wine with different foods is always a fun way to experience wine. Now here’s an easy — and more fun — way to do just that: With cookies customized for different wine types.

Cookies & Corks produces small, boutique boxes of cookies, each bearing three different cookie types designed to pair with one of three wine types: red, white, or sparkling. In each box you’ll find two traditional, sweet cookies, and one savory one — usually something with herbs in it — all designed to pair with wine of a certain color. A legend on the side of the box tells you in more detail what kinds of cookies go with what kind of wine (Cab, Pinot, etc.).

Results are interesting? In tasting through these nine types of cookies I generally found that cookies taste a lot like cookies whether you’re eating them with wine or not — but there were indeed a few that enhanced the experience of the wine-drinking… generally the savory ones.

Some thoughts on each cookie collection follow.

White Wine Cookies & Corks – 13 total Apricot Sage, Peanut Butter Chocolate, and Ginger Molasses cookies. Apricot Sage is actually the least tasty cookie on its own (sage in cookie form is stronger than you’d think), but with a glass of Chardonnay it was a surprisingly good fit. I really liked the PB&Chocolate (two peanut butter cookies with chocolate sandwiched between them) cookies, but the whole affair was so huge it was a bit sloppy and crumbly for a dainty glass of wine. The touch of salt on that cookie: fantastic. Finally there’s Ginger Molasses: A solid and crumbly gingersnap, definitely worthwhile, and probably the best cookie here on its own merits. B+

Sparkling Wine Cookies & Corks – 15 total Zesty Lemon, Parmesan Thyme, and Sea Salt Chocolate Oatmeal cookies. A huge, tart Lemon cookie gets you started, and the Oatmeal cookie, while really salty, is quite delightful. The savory Parmesan Thyme, however, is less cookie than squishy biscuit. Unlike, say, the Apricot Sage cookie, it works less well with or without wine, coming across a bit like an old cheese cracker that’s gone soft. The sweet cookies, however, all seem to work pretty well with sparkling wine, though… and just as well on their own. B+

Red Wine Cookies & Corks – 15 total White Cheddar Rosemary, Shortbread, and Espresso Chocolate Peanut Butter cookies. Chocolate and red wine always work pretty well together, and the Espresso Chocolate Peanut Butter cookie, while a little busy, is a good counterpart to red wine — and better with some juice (which gives the dryish cookie a little moisture) than solo. The shortbread is quite sweet compared to your average Trefoil, with a slight citrus kick, maybe not perfect for red wine but pretty tasty in its own right. Finally there’s the Cheddar Rosemary: Unfortunately these cookies were mostly pulverized by the time they got to me, but the pieces, much like the Parmesan Thyme cookies, bring a big cheesy biscuit character to the party. Overwhelming on their own, they work well enough with wine but overall I preferred the sweeter cookies in this bunch compared to this savory one. A-

$7 per box

White Wine Cookies & Corks

$7

8.5

Rating

8.5/10