Wine Pairings for Summertime Grilling

To us, nothing feels like "summer" more than an evening spent grilling on the patio. Growing up, this meant all of our cousins driving out to our sunny Carmel Valley house to escape the Carmel fog. We've grilled just about everything that comes into season during the summer months and are always trying to find creative yet balanced wine pairings for each dish. Here are some of our go-to pairings featuring wines from one of our all-time favorite wineries from home, Morgan Winery. Now, grab those grilling tongs, a glass of your favorite wine, and let's get grilling!

xxx Ivy & Eve

Be sure to use our code IvyAndEve at checkout on Morgan's website for complimentary shipping on your first order! 

Chicken - Lightly Oaked Chardonnay 

Nothing beats a lightly oaked Chardonnay with grilled marinated chicken. We love using refreshing citrus marinades and fresh herbs like rosemary, thyme, or basil to keep the flavors light, especially on hot summer evenings. Lightly oaked Chardonnay pairs great as it complements the mild flavor of the chicken and the slightly toasty flavors from the grill!

Veggie Skewers - Sauvignon Blanc

It's not summer without grilled veggie skewers! We love including fresh veggies from Ivy's garden, like summer squash, peppers, and tomatoes. A nice chilled Sauvignon Blanc pairs so well with grilled veggies because of its high levels of vegetal pyrazines, the compound that gives grassy or "bell peppery" notes to some wines. 

Our pick: Morgan Winery 2021 Sauvignon Blanc

Salmon - Rosé 

Rosé is the perfect companion to grilled salmon or any seafood, really! The fresh acidity from rosé cuts through the rich fattiness of salmon, while the lightly fruity notes complement (and don't overpower) the delicate flavors of many seafoods. Rosé also pairs well with lighter sides like fresh watermelon salad, pesto pasta salad, and lightly dressed greens! 

Our pick: Morgan Winery 2022 Rosé of Grenache

Burgers - Petit Sirah

A massive juicy burger's bold, beefy flavor deserves to be paired with an equally bold wine like a Petit Sirah. This wine's dark fruit and heavy tannins can handle the fatty meat from a beef burger. Petit Sirah also pairs well with mushrooms, so a portobello mushroom burger works perfectly if you need a vegetarian option.

Steak - GSM

We love a classic tri-tip on the grill, and nothing pairs better than a GSM (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre blend) or another Southern Rhône-style red blend. GSM blends incorporate a nice balance of brambles, rosemary, and baking spice that enhance the flavors of the steak, while the acidity and rich tannins of the wine cut through the fattiness. 

Our pick: Morgan Winery 2020 Cote Du Crows

Sausages - Syrah

Grilled pork or beef sausages are an excellent pairing for Syrah as the Syrah's punch of dark fruit on the palate and peppery afternotes match the bold flavors and spices in most sausages. We love pairing Syrah with spicy/sweet Italian sausages or something savory like garlic rosemary or cheesy portobello sausages. 

Our pick: Morgan Winery 2021 G17 Syrah

BBQ Meats - Zinfandel

For those of you who love BBQ meats, we suggest pairing your meal with a glass of full-bodied Zinfandel. The Zin's rich and fruity palate balances the intensely smoky flavors of the BBQ. Zin's typically have higher alcohol content (14-17%), allowing them to hold up to the deeply hearty, fatty BBQ meats. 

Mushrooms - Pinot Noir

We love grilling our favorite fungi, as grilling mushrooms enhances their savory, earthy flavors. This is a wonderful food pairing for our favorite varietal, Pinot Noir! A bright and fruit-forward Pinot Noir will lift the savory flavors of mushrooms, while a more terroir-driven Pinot will heighten the umami of the mushroom. Either way, we're game! 

Our Pick: Morgan Winery's 2021 Twelve Clones Pinot 

Fruits - Riesling

You can grill so many great summer fruits, but peaches are definitely our favorite! You can add them to salads, as a side to your grilled chicken and fish, or serve them alongside your favorite ice cream! We think grilled peaches and vanilla ice cream are the perfect ending to our summer meals. Riesling is a good pairing option for grilled fruit since it has harmonious notes of honeysuckle, citrus, and stone fruit. Depending on your mood, food course, or sweet tooth, you can purchase dry, off-dry, or sweet rieslings to pair with your dish. 

The Ultimate Wine and Girl Scout Cookie Pairing Guide

With Girl Scout cookie season in full swing, we wanted to challenge ourselves to pair each cookie with the perfect wine. Sweets in general are super challenging to pair with wine. The intense sugar content of desserts often overpowers the fruity flavors in wines and can make even the most perfectly balanced wine taste off-kilter and overly accentuate the tannins making the wine taste bitter. With this in mind, we looked to find some fruit-forward wines with little to no tannins to pair with each cookie. 

You can find these wine varietals at your own local wine shop or big-name stores like BevMo and Total Wine & More!

If you haven't ordered your Girl Scout cookies yet, or can't find a local troop to buy from, we suggest ordering from Troop 6000 - a Girl Scout program that serves girls in the New York City shelter system. Led by trained Troop leaders also living in the shelter system, this program gives all girls and women in the NYC shelter system the opportunity to enjoy all that the Girls Scouts has to offer.

Online orders start February 27th - March 1st, 2023.

So, grab your favorite box (or several) of Girls Scout cookies, and test out these pairings! Tell us what you think and let us know your favorite pairings!

xxx Ivy & Eve

Thin Mint- Many think that chocolate would pair well with big, heavy reds like cabernet sauvignon or a syrah but it is actually the opposite! Big, heavy reds tend to have a lot of tannins which when combined with chocolate, make the wine taste bitter and the chocolate flat. To avoid this we suggest going with a low-tannin red wine like barbera or grenache.

Tag Along - We like to pair the #1 Girl Scout cookie with a Beaujolais or malbec. The juicy acidity in Beaujolais can help balance the creaminess of the Tag Along. A malbec makes a sweet harmony with its dark fruit and cocoa finish and the peanut butter and chocolate of the Tag Along.

Do-Si-Do - The classic peanut butter cookie. These simple yet flavorful cookies will pair well with zinfandel. Zin’s are known for their higher alcohol content and deep jammy flavors that marry well with this cookie and give off a grown-up PB&J kind of vibe! 

Gluten-free chocolate chip toffee - With such a classic cookie a nice glass of pinot noir will pair perfectly. The light tannins in the pinot combined with vanilla and cherry notes go nicely with the simple, yet delicious, flavors of these chocolate chip cookies. Although we do not have dietary restrictions we still thought these chocolate chip cookies hit the spot! 

Raspberry Rally - 2023’s new addition to the Girl Scout cookie lineup is the perfect partner for a nice chilled glass of bubbly Brachetto d’Acqui! These pretty pink-centered cookies complement and intensify Brachetto d’Acqui’s notes of raspberry, rose, and baking spice, making them a natural pairing for this sweet sparkler. Brachetto d’Acqui is also a low-alcohol wine (5.5-8%) so you won’t run the risk of a hangover from sugar AND alcohol!

Samoa - With something so decadent, try a dessert wine like cream sherry or tawny port, which has enough sweetness to stand up to the cookie and has similar flavors of caramel,  cocoa, and some nice toastiness. For a white pairing, choose something like a sauterne to really bring out the tropical notes of coconut and butterscotch flavors.

Adventurefuls - This newer addition to the Girl Scout cookie family is indulgent! The cookie mimics the flavors of a brownie topped with caramel and sea salt. Because this cookie is so rich we recommend pairing it with an equally rich port wine. 

Trefoil - This delicate shortbread cookie couples well with a champagne-brut nature or brut zero. The acidity, and toasty notes of the bubbly work well with the buttery cookie flavors. Alternatively, the Trefoil will pair perfectly with a Moscato d'Asti as this wine is no stranger to cookies: In Italy, it's common to drink with biscotti! 

Tost-yay - These may be one of our new favorite Girl Scout Cookies! In the fun shape of toast, these cookies taste similar to cinnamon toast crunch cereal. The cinnamon is light enough to pair nicely with a glass (or two) of prosecco.

Lemonades - A delightfully zingy cookie with a light citrus frosting coating the bottom. These cookies will pair well with a sauvignon blanc, a dry riesling, or albariño as these wines all tend to have defined tropical, and citrus flavors.

What pairing did you like best? Have any other pairing suggestions? Let us know in the comments!

Wine and Whisky Cocktail: the Tam O'Shanter

On January 25th, we celebrate our favorite mid-winter holiday, Burns Night, commemorating the birth of Scotland's most famous poet, Robert Burns (I'm sure you've all sung Auld Lang Syne at the strike of 12 o'clock on New Years, well, that's Burns). This holiday dates back to 1801, five years after his death, when some of Burns's best friends decided to celebrate his birthday. For over 220 years, fans of Robert Burns have celebrated his birthday with fantastic dinner parties, serving a traditional Scottish plate of haggis, neeps (rutabagas) and tatties (potatoes), LOTS of Scottish whisky, and recitations of Burns's poetry. Robert Burns's poetry is written in Scots, which is one of the native languages of Scotland. It takes a bit of practice (or a lot of whiskies) to get the hang of reading Scots, but I don't think Burns would mind our terrible pronunciations!

This year, we wanted to make a welcome cocktail to start the party. While Eve loves Scottish whiskies, Ivy is not so much a fan. After a bit of searching, Eve found the perfect cocktail that combined our love of Robert Burns and our truest love: Wine. Enter the Tam O'Shanter. 

The Tam O'Shanter is a whisky and wine cocktail named after one of Burns's most famous narrative poems. It tells the story of a farmer named Tam and a night of drunken adventures, which includes dancing witches and the Devil playing the bagpipes. What's not to like?! We love this cocktail for its exciting combination of whisky and wine, the smooth sweetness of Drambuie, and the freshness from orange zest. 

xxx Ivy & Eve

This recipe makes one cocktail.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz Scottish Whisky (If you like it smoky/peaty, go for Laphroaig or Lagavulin, for something smoother, try Jura or Glenmorangie)

• 1 oz red wine (we suggest a Bordeaux blend)

• 0.5 oz Drambuie

• 3 dashes of orange bitters

• Cup of ice

• Orange peel garnish

Directions: 

1. Measure out ingredients into a cocktail pitcher with ice.

2. Stir all ingredients well with a cocktail spoon.

3. Strain and serve in a coupe or martini glass. 

4. Garnish with a flamed orange twist. Watch the how-to here.

5. Cheers!