Saturday, October 20, 2007

Wine Ice Cream: A Tasting

Last month, I posted about wine ice cream made by Mercer's Dairy in New York. I was lucky enough to get an opportunity to taste several of their flavors. Thus, here are my thoughts of the ice cream. Did it live up to my expectations?

I was able to taste their Red Raspberry Chardonnay, Royal White Riesling, Ala Port and Peach White Zinfandel. They also have a Cherry Merlot but I did not taste that flavor. I shared the ice cream with a group of my wine buddies as well as some family members. About a dozen people in all. Basically, everyone shared similar thoughts about the ice cream. And those impressions were very positive.

From smell alone, you can tell that these ice creams have actual wine in them. It is obvious as well in the taste. This is more than just a wine flavor. Texture wise, all of the ice creams were very creamy and seemed high quality.

The general favorite was the Ala Port. A somewhat purplish color, it had strong fruit flavors though without that bitterness that you can get in a young port. It was very tasty. The Red Raspberry Chardonnay was more pink in color. It too had strong fruit flavors and was very good. The Peach White Zinfandel was very interesting and contained actual pieces of peach. Another delicious ice cream. In all three of these ice creams, the wine made a good pairing with the creamy ice cream. The wine did not overpower the ice cream. I think serving these ice creams with some fresh fruit would make an excellent dessert.

The Royal White Riesling was the only ice cream that did not do so well. The problem is that the taste was too mild. It lacked any flavor depth. It needed something to enhance its flavor, such as maybe more vanilla. It did not taste bad, it just needed a stronger flavor.

Mercer has created an excellent product. I would heartily recommend their wine ice cream. My friends and family would recommend it as well.

Unfortunately, the wine ice cream is not currently available in Massachusetts though Mercer is working on the licenses for such. Sounds like a good potential opportunity for some local wine stores to stock this wine ice cream when available.

Unitl then, you can mail order these products from Mercer. A pint only costs $5. I think that is a reasonable price for a top quality ice cream. So, give Mercer a call and order some wine ice cream!

Mercer's Dairy
Route 12
Boonville NY
Phone: (315) 942-2611

5 comments:

Ken and Theresa Hoggins said...

We have been wanting to taste these ice creams but haven't been able to find them in MA stores. We wanted to post a review of these ice creams on http://www.kenswineguide.com/ as we review wines, so why not wine flavored ice cream? Glad to hear they were good. We hope to try them soon!

Richard Auffrey said...

They are definitely worth checking out so you might want to mail order some. And I do hope some MA stores are able to stock them in the near future.

BrandieCola said...

There is also another website you can check out for wine ice cream which has become very popular it is called www.wineicecream.com or www.glacedevino.com. The website is for the Glace de Vino Wine Ice Cream.

Richard Auffrey said...

I have not had the opportunity to taste the Glace de Vino yet. From examining their site, it is interesting that there is no alcohol content in the ice cream. Thus, I am curious how that would then compare with the Mercers which does have an alcohol content.

Anonymous said...

Really like the information. Being from CT I can't wait to visit the Ice Cream dairy. Thanks