Just because something isn’t easy doesn’t mean it can’t be delicious. An excellent case in point is when wine meets ice cream. The plain and simple fact is that the majority of wines don’t pair well with ice cream. However, when done properly a delectable synergy can be achieved. In this week’s column I’ll introduce some classic wine and ice cream combinations. Before we embark on this delicious endeavor, let’s take a look at how ice cream became the most beloved of sweets.

Ancient delicacy

Flavored ice treats have a long history. Alexander the Great was known to enjoy snow mixed with honey and nectar. The first documented antecedent of modern ice cream dates back to the Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220) when the emperors and nobility of the empire were fond of rice mixed with milk and frozen in packed snow. The Han emperors employed up to 100 “ice men” who would transport ice and snow from the mountains to the palace.

We also know that Marco Polo brought sherbet recipes back to Italy from China in the 13th century, but it wasn’t until the 16th century England that ice-cream as we would recognized it today first appeared. For centuries this delicacy remained a treat only for the elite, as it was difficult and costly to make.

In mid 19th century America a confluence of technical innovations including mechanical refrigeration, steam power, electricity and automated packing machines enabled the masses to enjoy ice cream.

The father of the modern ice cream industry was a Baltimore milk dealer named Jacob Fussell. He had a surplus of cream so he built the world’s first ice cream factory in Seven Valleys Pennsylvania and shipped the product back to Baltimore. His explosive success incentivized entrepreneurs to follow his lead and soon ice cream became a mainstay of the American diet.

Today according to various industry reports, the global ice cream industry has over US$50 billion in sales. Ice cream consumption in China still lags behind the US where per capita consumption is a whopping 28 gallons and Europe, but there is strong growth nonetheless. Walk down the grand commercial avenues of Shanghai and you’re sure to see an abundance of premium ice cream brands being sold and consumed.

Wine pairing

With the mercury rising more people in our metropolis are opting for a delicious and refreshing scoop of ice cream.

A lovely way to embellish this experience is to enjoy the ice cream with a suitable glass of wine. There are two simple rules to follow. First, follow the general rule that says when serving wine with desserts the wine should be as sweet or preferably sweeter than the dessert. Dry acidic whites and tannic reds just don’t work.

Also make sure your ice cream isn’t too cold so the creamy texture and flavors components are more pronounced. Here are some popular ice cream styles with synergistic wine partners.

The world’s most popular ice cream flavor is vanilla. A wide diversity of ingredients and sauces go well with vanilla ice cream but the most sublime addition is unquestionably the fortified wine Pedro Ximenez Sherry. Pedro Ximenex is the sweetest style of Sherry from southern Spain. Gourmets have known the duet love song “Vanilla Ice Cream” and Pedro Ximenex creates on you palate.

This dark mahogany colored wine offers an abundance of sweet raisin, stewed fruit and perfumed spices that are perfect companions to the ice cream. Pour half the syrupy wine on the ice cream and drink the rest.

A delightful way to add further texture and taste dimensions to this combination is to soak raisins in Pedro Ximenez wine for 24 hours then serve with the ice cream and wine. Simply divine!

I often serve full-bodied, abundantly fruity yet still dry red wines with dark chocolate.

The pairing works well because the room temperature chocolate isn’t sweet. Colder and sweeter chocolate ice cream needs a sweeter red partner and my preferred solution is Recioto della Valpolicella, a unique style of sweet red wine only made in the sloped valleys of Veneto in northeast Italy.

Like the dry Amarone, the wine is made from dried grapes left in grape-drying lofts for 100 or more days. The fermentation process is stopped to preserve the sugar percentage necessary to grant the typical sweet and structured style of this wine.

Before bottling the wine is aged in oak barrels for several years. On the palate Recioto offers abundant sweetness, wonderful fruit flavors with well-rounded tannins and a velvety texture, in other words a wonderful sweet red partner for chocolate ice cream.

Fortified Port wines are also quite nice with chocolate ice cream.

Some other palate pleasing wine and ice cream combination include peach or mango ice cream with a nice Muscat wine like Muscat de Beaumes de Venice from the Southern Rhone or the lightly sparkling wine Moscato d’Asti from Piedmont, Italy.

Ice wines from Germany, Austria and Canada are also lovely with fruit flavored ice creams and my Italian friends aren’t shy about downing a glass or two of grappa while savoring ice cream.

Wine ice cream

An ice cream maker in New York has taken the idea of combining wine with ice cream to the extreme by creating wine flavored ice cream. Nestled in New York State’s scenic Adirondack Mountains is Mercer’s Dairy Farm.

About a decade ago the farm started experimenting with wine flavored ice cream and after several failures they came up with a delicious solution.

Today the farm exports the ice cream to 15 countries including China. Flavors include red raspberry Chardonnay, peach white Zinfandel, cherry Merlot and chocolate Cabernet.

Region & Style at a glance

Varieties:

The most important grape is Palomino, but the other two authorized Sherry varieties, Pedro Ximenez and Mostcatel, are added to blends to sweeten the wines or used to make single variety sweet Sherries.

Key Term:

The Solera System is used to age Sherry and comprises stacked barrels in three to four rows where the youngest wine in the top barrels is gradually transferred to lower barrels. Eventually, the oldest wines on the bottom barrels are transferred to bottles.

Where to buy in Shanghai