9 of the best wine and ice cream pairings
It’s summer, we want ice cream! Actually, we love eating ice cream in winter too: I’ve even adopted Eddie’s habit of eating a popsicle virtually every day – even when it’s ten degrees below freezing outside. And just as much as we love eating ice cream, we also adore drinking wine. So one of life’s questions is automatically: which wine goes with which ice cream?
Because no, you can’t just randomly open a bottle of Barolo and put a tub of lemon sorbet on the table. That would be a waste of both, but with a little guidance you can make smart choices in life that combine two of the best things in the world: ice cream and wine. The experts at Wine Enthusiast have therefore cleverly summed it up for you in an infographic, which from now on we’ll always have at hand, saved on our phones. Their recommendations:
Vanilla ice cream with ice wine
Oh yes, delicious. Soft, creamy and always good: vanilla ice cream. And ice wine is a wonderful product in its own right: read everything about ice wine in this article!
Chocolate ice cream with Brachetto d’Acqui
This Italian wine is made from the Brachetto grape from Piedmont, an area where you can eat and drink insanely well (going to Turin? These are our tips!). This wine is lightly sweet, beautifully cherry-red and usually has a lovely sparkle too. Does that work with cold and chocolate? Yes!
Mocha or nut ice cream with Oloroso sherry
Oloroso is a type of sherry; a fortified white wine that is somewhat darker and more intense in flavor than the sherry you may remember from your grandmother’s drinks cabinet. It has warm aromas and hints of caramel, which pair perfectly with the flavor of coffee or nuts.
Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked and LBV port
Late Bottled Vintage (LBV) ports are made from grapes harvested in a single vintage, aged even longer than vintage ports, and deep red in color. The flavor is rich and sweet, and it washes down that delicious Ben & Jerry’s ice cream beautifully. Half Baked is ice cream with chocolate fudge brownie and chocolate chip cookie dough, so you understand: together with that port, it’s one big celebration.
Strawberry ice cream with sparkling Gamay
Oh yes, we can totally get behind this too: the nostalgic sweetness and creaminess of strawberry ice cream with that fresh Beaujolais grape and its sparkle, to put it rather irreverently. An after-dinner feast in pink and red hues.
Lemon sorbet with off-dry Riesling
There it is, the lemon sorbet. Could that ultimate fresh tartness actually pair well with something? Riesling that isn’t completely bone-dry is recommended by Wine Enthusiast, and we’re happy to agree. Not sure which Riesling to choose? Then do go into a wine shop and ask for advice; they’ll only be happy to help!
Pistachio ice cream and Moscato d’Asti
Forget that poisonous-green, crumbly stuff from inferior ice cream parlors or the gallon tubs of the past: I predict the comeback of pistachio ice cream (and gelato!) in its most delicious form: smooth, nutty-sweet and with a somewhat undefined color that is at least honest. Moscato d’Asti, the sweet Italian white dessert wine with a light sparkle, goes very well with it. In the mood for a more ‘aggressive’ fizz? Then Asti Spumante, which is also slightly less sweet.
Cookie dough ice cream and Madeira
The infographic says ‘Rainwater Madeira’, but you’re unlikely to find that easily in the Netherlands because it’s a very retro type of Madeira that was mainly popular in America. But other good-quality Madeiras are readily available here, and a somewhat sweeter one in particular pairs well with the rather ‘easygoing’ flavor of cookie dough.
Mint chocolate or After Eight ice cream with semi-sweet Dornfelder
The German Dornfelder grape, which produces fairly full-bodied red wines, is sometimes also made into a semi-sweet wine. The color is deep red and the character very fruity, and a wine has to be pretty robust to stand up to the distinctive combination of mint and chocolate. An exciting pairing!
To top it all off
And as a final treat, here’s a tip from FavorFlav’s Sharon: rosé champagne with ice cream made from red fruits such as raspberries and strawberries. Now we’re craving it too!
Also read:
- Why you need a regular wine shop
- This is the difference between ice cream and gelato
- The innocent pistachio nut is a source of conflict between these two countries
Source/infographic: Wine Enthusiast
