Saturday, September 22, 2007

Wine Ice Cream

Mercer's Dairy, in Boonville, NY, makes all sorts of dairy products. They began making ice cream in 1952. They currently produce 36 flavors of ice cream, 8 flavors of yogurt, 4 flavors of sherbet, raspberry sorbet, and 3 flavors of fat-free, no-sugar-added ice cream. As well as wine ice cream.

They produce true wine ice cream and not just wine-flavored ice cream. Their formula is a trade secret. Their current flavors include Red Raspberry Chardonnay, Royal White Riesling, Ala Port and Peach White Zinfandel. They are developing additional flavors as well. Wine from New York state wineries is used to make the ice cream. As the ice cream actually has 5% alcohol, you must be 21 years of age or older to purchase it. A pint generally sell for $7-$12.

The wine ice cream currently is only available in limited areas, and not yet in Massachusetts. Mercer's though is seeking, or already has, licenses to sell their product in about 20 states. Some restaurants, in certain areas, now serve the ice cream. Certain grocery stores and wineries in New York, New Jersey and Missouri also sell the ice cream. It can also be ordered from the Ice Cream Cellar though they may only deliver in NY. Frost on the Vine is also a distributor for the wine ice cream in Missouri.

The wine ice cream won "Best New Product" at the Great American Dessert Expo in June 2007.

The idea certainly is intriguing. I have not had any of the ice cream so I can't say if it is any good. But I certainly would love to give it a try. Maybe the next time I travel to New York I will seek it out. If any of my readers have tried it, please tell give me your thoughts.

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

8 comments:

Meghan said...

wine ice cream? now how can i get to NY? too cool!

RougeAndBlanc said...

Wine ice cream is really cool. In our household, we have experimented with mixing various wine with ice cream too. What we learned is that better wine makes better wine ice cream and usually vanilla ice cream is a very neutral base.
Good blog.

Richard Auffrey said...

Hi Megan:
New Jersey might be even a little bit closer to you than NY. If you do taste some, come back and tell me what you thought of it.

Richard Auffrey said...

Hi Rougeandblanc:
Thanks for the compliment on my blog.

Can you tell me more about how you made wine ice cream? Which varietals worked best? What was your favorite flavor?

Anonymous said...

I saw a wine ice cream called glace de vino on the today show and this ice cream I have personally tasted! This ice cream is to die for, you can read more at www.wineicecream.com. I have tried the mercer's wine ice cream and it is double the price and does not taste even as close to being good as glace de vino's.

Richard Auffrey said...

The Glace de Vino does not retain any alcohol, as it is cooked away, so that is a difference from the Mercer's. I see the Glace selling at $5 a pint, which is a little bit cheaper than the $7 charged for the Mercer in some places.

Unknown said...

I live in Iowa and Mercer's sells its Wine Ice Cream Here. Its delicious. I am from New York and tried glace de vino while i lived there. These are two different prodcuts and the Mercers is superior. Its truly for adults i reccomend it to anyone who loves wine and who loves ice cream. Get your hands on some if you can.

Anonymous said...

I HAVE TRIED MERCER AND THE COMPANY OUT IN NY AND ANOTHER COMPANY. "WHO" YOU ASK? VINEYARD ICE CREAM FROM A COMPANY NAMED PHEASANT OAK VINEYARD CONFECTIONS OUT OF NEBRASKA. THIS IS THE ICE CREAM TO TRY. IT IS MADE FROM REAL WINE. IT HAS A LOW ENOUGH ALCOHOL CONTENT THAT KIDS CAN EAT IT TOO! GO TO THEIR WEBSITE TO ORDER...HTTP//:PHEASANTOAK.COM