25-04-2025
Wild wine and ice cream trend takes London and Paris by storm: 'Surely no one in their right mind'
Is this the most disgusting wine trend of all?
Wine with ice cream is trending in Paris.
And despite the sniggers from the wine elites, Gen Z-ers can't seem to get enough of it.
There are long queues outside Folderol 'Vins et Glaces' bar in the hip 11th arrondissement.
There are wildly different combinations: fruity red wines are served with chocolate ice cream while sauternes are recommended as a match for the coconut ice cream.
Surely the combination of sangiovese or shiraz with chocolate ice creams is too much of a good thing?
Perhaps it's not such a bad idea after all, say some sommeliers.
Folderol was swamped by TikTokkers from the day it opened and had to engage security guards to manage the crowds.
And it banned TikTok filming for safety and privacy reasons.
The wine with ice cream craze has quickly spread to London and I have no doubt it will soon arrive Down Under.
In England, The Dreamery opened at Islington, London and again a TikTok contagion turned a humble artisanal ice cream parlour into a lick and slurp tourist attraction.
Folderol offers unusual ice cream flavours like fig shortcake, nectarine and hibiscus.
Critics in London are divided on the whole idea of pairing ice cream with wine.
The top wine critic Victoria Moore said she liked tawny port with millionaire's ice cream - where the vanilla ice cream is covered with salted caramel sauce and coated in milk chocolate and served with crunchy biscuit chunks.
And she says Pedro Ximenez sherry ('reminiscent of molasses: dark, viscous and very sweet') could be served affogato-style with the PX replacing the coffee.
Pedro Ximenez has been the dessert wine happily served in Australia alongside a Scottish toffee and raisin pudding with vanilla ice cream - but not tipped on top of it, surely.
Puddings like this would equally be enlivened with classical Australian muscat like those made by Campbells of Rutherglen.
A surprising red wine pairing was pinot noir with chocolate and cherry flavoured ice creams.
But surely no one in their right mind would pollute their fine burgundy with ice cream.
Ms Moore said sweeter wines are a more comfortable match, and sugary food and spätlese riesling will work.
'It has notes of nectarines and sweet apple which meld with the peach melba. Also lovely with apple ice cream or sorbet,' she wrote in The Telegraph.
Prosecco lovers would not miss out.
Marco Leanza, who runs a family pizza restaurant, Dough, in Bath in England says sgroppino cocktails are popular there.
It's a drink originally from Venice and now served all over Italy where prosecco is mixed with lemon sorbet.
Leanza adds vodka 'for that extra kick.'
Now that is a simple recipe to try at home.
A popular New York food blog, NewSuperVinoBros, recently focused on wine and ice cream and in a video on Instagram they paired ploussard wine with Honey Lavender ice cream.
Ploussard from France is also known as peloussard and delivers delicate, pale, floral reds with rosehip and hibiscus, and watermelon notes.
It comes from Jura, a department in the eastern French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté known for its breathtaking scenery with vine-clad slopes and finger lakes.
Sommelier Federica Zanghirella from the UK Sommelier Association is more sceptical about wine and ice cream matches.
She believes it is impossible to match all wine with ice cream due to the temperature of ice cream that will impact the wine flavours.
'Cold brings out the 'hard' parts of wine — the acidity, savouriness, tannins and bubbles. Those sensations can be too sharp if the wine is made cold in the mouth by ice cream, the taste can be unpleasant,' she told reporters.
Ms Moore said her star match was given to her by a colleague who recommended hand making the ice cream and matching it with sauternes, the famous French sticky from Sauternes, a small sub-region of Bordeaux.
Sauternes' fruit flavours with hints of pineapple with crystallised fruit and saffron works brilliantly with coconut ice cream, she reported.
Perhaps coconut ice cream may be one to try with our own leading dessert wine De Bortoli Noble One that shows orange blossom honey, apricot marmalade and toffee flavours and aromas.
