Five surprising wine and ice cream pairings

Ice cream and wine? Both offer hedonistic experiences, but not usually at the same time. Even putting the two words in the same sentence feels like a clash of two different moments: a lazy Saturday afternoon on the beach flopping sandily into an evening in a sleek city bar, perhaps. Millions of Gen Z-ers would disagree with this assessment: ice cream and wine pairings are lighting up TikTok at the moment as the craze for matching the perfect scoop with its ideal glass goes viral.

The New York-based SuperVinoBros, who have a following of 132,000 and bill themselves as “Twins drinking wine” recently posted testing out a match between poulsard (a trendy red grape variety, also known as ploussard and peloussard, that makes very delicate, pale, floral reds) from the Jura and honey-lavender ice cream. The first brother was a little guarded: “Honestly, I’m not disappointed by that”; his brother more enthusiastic, “I think it goes so well together, you have the floral herbaceousness [of the lavender] and the poulsard is very light.”

The trend for pairing different ice creams and wine started in Paris, with the “Vins et Glaces” bar, Folderol, which opened in the hip 11^th arrondissement in early 2021. Folderol was an instant hit, becoming so popular it had to ban TikTokers and hire a bouncer to control the crowds who rolled up, desperate to try its unusual flavours, which stretch from nectarine hibiscus to fig shortcake, and to wash them down with a glass of perfectly paired wine. At the end of last year, north London got its own artisanal ice cream parlour and wine bar, The Dreamery, a cool space with mirrored walls and a statement ceiling – and imaginatively decadent ice cream flavours, which got TikTok revved up all over again.

As a result, it seems, ice cream sales are soaring: Waitrose says sales of its No 1 Madagascan Vanilla Ice Cream are up 104 per cent compared to this time last year while sales of its No 1 Santo Domingo Chocolate Ice Cream are up 89 per cent (if you rate Haagen-Dazs chocolate, I recommend trying this). Will Torrent, Senior Innovation Chef at Waitrose says he is also on board with the ice cream and wine trend. “This year we have been seeing a lot of restaurants starting to pair ice creams with wines and it is now one of my favourite combinations.”

There’s plenty of precedent for serving a refreshing sorbet with wine (and other drinks). For instance, sgroppino is an Italian drink made with prosecco, lemon sorbet and vodka – a bit like a lemony, boozy slushy. Mr McCoy’s Island Ices, a gelateria and natural wine bar in Soller, Mallorca, has created a convoy of tantalising combinations such as Tequila Float with Tahitian and Kaffir Lime Sorbet; Negroni Float with orange juice sorbet; and Shandy Float made with lemon sorbet.

But mixing dairy and wine is a different matter. It can work, when the wine is sweet. At Penfold’s winery in Australia I once ate homemade vanilla ice-cream threaded with praline and raisins, served with a glass of Penfold’s Grandfather Tawny, an Antipodean take on tawny port that tastes of caramel, roasted nuts and molten raisins: an ultra-gourmet take on rum and raisin ice cream. But dry wine with cream? I was sceptical. Still, it’s always worth giving things a go.

The Waitrose team has come up with some more outlandish – more folderol, perhaps I should say – combinations, however. Unsurprisingly, I liked their suggestion of pairing their tiramisu ice cream with No 1 Reserve Tawny Port. Another pairing, Millionaire’s Dairy Ice Cream with Blueprint Fairtrade Pinotage, a big South African red that has juicy bright berry notes overlaid with a smoky spicy flavour, didn’t work for me. However, while I don’t usually enjoy the combination of dry wines with sweet food of any sort I was surprised to find I could see the point of another of Waitrose’s dry red wine matches (see below).

What I am not going to do, ever again, is emulate the global TikTok trend for putting scoops of vanilla ice cream into a glass of red wine and loading the whole lot up with canned fruit. “It’s like a creamy sangria,” trilled one Australian who tried the trending dessert for TikTok. Creamy sangria? That should tell you enough.

Five wine and ice cream pairings that actually work

The classic: PX sherry with vanilla

PX sherry is reminiscent of molasses: dark, viscous and very sweet. It’s classically served affogato-style (with the PX replacing the coffee).

Surprise red wine pairing: Pinot noir with chocolate and cherry

It was Waitrose that put me on to this with its suggestion that the No 1 Belgian Dairy Chocolate & Sour Cherry ice cream might pair well with the Waitrose Blueprint Romanian Pinot Noir. If you are going to put dry red with ice cream then this is the one to try. Chill the wine right down and enjoy the way the succulent cherry flavours in the wine meet the juicy cherries in the ice cream, while the gentle tannins of the wine meld with the cocoa of the chocolate. Clearly not one to try with your finest Vosne-Romanée but good with a cheaper pinot.

Fruity sweet wine with fruit: Spätlese riesling with peach melba

Sweeter wines are a more comfortable match with sugary food and spätlese riesling is just sweet enough to work. It has notes of nectarines and sweet apple which meld with the peach melba. Also lovely with apple ice cream or sorbet.

Dairy and tawny: Tawny port with millionaire’s ice cream

The roasted nut and caramel flavours in the wine are a joyful match with the creamy, caramelly, chocolatey ice cream.

French twist: Sauternes with coconut ice cream

This star match was given to me by a wine colleague who had made the ice cream himself and it’s an incredible combination: sauternes has some quite tropical fruit flavours – hints of pineapple with crystallised fruit and saffron – and it works brilliantly with coconut ice cream.

Bowls and ice cream scoop from a selection at Anthropologie