Summer is here — I don’t care what you say. Naturally, that means it’s time for grilling and patios and wine and patios and happy hours on patios and ice cream and patios. You know that one friend that doesn’t leave her own patio for most of the summer? She just beckons you over with the promise of grilled meats and, when you arrive, she’s probably snuggly sunken into a hammock with a make-shift side table showcasing her half-empty Merlot of choice and a polycarbonate wine glass (because she was no-doubtedly banned from having real glass in the yard about 2 years ago). Yea – I don’t know that ‘friend’ either…
Well, it turns out that not only does Mercer’s Dairy know me that friend super well — they’ve created a fun summer find that caters to her: wine ice cream.
Want to read that again? Wine. Ice. Cream. And, because I’m sure you’re wondering — the awesome crew at Mercer’s Dairy in New York shipped us four pints of the silky treasure for its first Kansas City taste test.
Cherry Merlot
On the Mercer’s site, the ice cream flavors read like the descriptions on a fine wine:
Sophisticated. We’ve chosen a Merlot wine recognized for it’s plum and black cherry undertones, and accentuated it with plump Bordeaux cherries.
The ice cream, almost strangely, lived up perfectly to the description. While it was notably creamy at that first bite — like ice cream — it followed with a punchy aftertaste that could only be Merlot. The ‘plump’ cherries among the dusky lilac-colored ice cream were gigantic and added good flavor but were a bit overwhelming in texture.
The Merlot ice cream was perfectly flavored to match the Merlot wine we sipped in comparison, but the self-proclaimed red drinkers sampling the treat all admitted that it felt odd to be eating a cold wine that we usually sip at a much warmer temp. Cherry Merlot was good, but not our favorite in the line up.
Spice
Our second red wine ice cream was the Mercer’s Spice:
Warm. We’ve selected a fragrant red mulled wine known for it’s moderate sweetness balanced with the warmth of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.
Again, the description was a perfect representation of the ice cream’s flavor. Spice was unanimously defined as tasting like Christmas. So much so that we decided it would make the perfect holiday dessert or hard float next winter. The flavor was rich and warm — really highlighting those mulled flavors. Delicious, but ultimately just not quite the right flavor for what we’re feeling this time of year.
Red Raspberry Chardonnay
For red and white drinkers alike, Red Raspberry Chardonnay ended up coming out on top.
Classic elegance. We’ve taken and oak-aged Chardonnay, known for it’s delicate nose and buttery smooth taste, and paired it with fresh red raspberries.
Unlike the red wine ice creams, the flavor of this white wine ice cream allowed both the ice cream and the wine to simultaneously be delicious. The flavors in Red Raspberry Chardonnay still started creamy and finished with a true Chardonnay taste, but the addition of raspberry added a slightly more traditional ice cream feel that made this pint all-too-easy to indulge in. It was light and creamy and absolutely perfectly paired with vanilla cookies.
NEW! Sparkling Strawberry
Wrapping up our sampling, we scooped into the newest addition to the Mercer’s wine ice cream family — Sparkling Strawberry.
Bubbly. We’ve uncorked a sweet champagne and paired it perfectly with ribbons of sparkling strawberries.
The toast-ready ice cream combines champagne bubbly with silky strawberry ribbons for what is truly a grown-up strawberry ice cream. Yet again, this lighter ice cream won us over with its combination of wine-inspired and traditional ice cream shop flavors. We could definitely see this creeping into a jazzed up mimosa or being served up with some shortcake!
Mercer’s is on to something with their delectable wine creations. While we might not reach for them as a regular snack, wine ice cream — like wine — is the perfect novelty for tasting with friends or enjoying on these quickly approaching warm summer days. On a patio, of course.
This post originally appeared on Prettyography.
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