The Scoop on Wine and Ice Cream Pairings

You know, wine experts are rethinking the standard rules when it comes to pairing to create more exciting and easy combinations, which now includes ice cream. Wine and spirits expert, Rosine T. Rousseau, joins us now to give us the scoop on the good and bad of wine and ice cream pairings. Hey, I thought you were crazy when you said potato chips and champagne, right? That turned out to be awesome. See? So I know this is gonna be even better. I thank you for having confidence in me. I do. You do have confidence in me. Okay, cheers. All right, awesome. We got a dry Riesling here. Yes, we do. Okay, so let me be honest. When the idea was brought to me to pair ice cream and wine, it's a young lady named Lauren Smith who lives in Chicago. I thought Lauren was crazy. I did. But she said, no, no, no, it could be fun. So we got a bunch of ice cream from Clementine's in St. Louis. I opened a bunch of wine and we had a tasting and it was amazing. So yeah, so here's the first one that we have for you. Okay, so the first one is a dry Riesling, but instead of ice cream, I did a lemon sorbet. So the wine is Dr. Constantine Frank. This is their 2023 dry Riesling, right? Out of the Finger Lakes in New York. Why did I do this? I don't know, why did you do this? Because I just like to eat and drink. The first time when I tried a dry Riesling with ice cream, it was with a matcha ice cream. Oh, okay. So because this is dry, you want something that's a little bit less sweet. They do have a semi-sweet Riesling, which may have been a better pairing, but I wanted you to see what happens, how the wine changes. Yes. Okay, tell me what you taste. It seems sweeter. And it just seems to explode in my mouth. It does. All the lemon flavors from the wine really pop out with the sorbet. So I wanted to say this is such a cool brand because Dr. Constantine Frank was the first one to bring vinifera to the New York area, to Finger Lakes area. So by vinifera, I mean the grape that makes wine. Yes, so this wine is delicious. It is $18.99. Yeah. Good job, Dr. Constantine. Yeah, that's good. All right. Dr. Constantine Frank, okay. So this is one of my favorite wines, personally. This is a Brocchetto d'Acqui. Okay. And this particular wine is Cap Bianca. It's $19.99. The producer is Tenementi. This wine comes from Piedmont. Why do I like this wine? It's got berry flavors. It has a little sweetness to it. And it's got some bubbles. It's got a little bit of bubbles to it. It's very low in alcohol. And I'm pairing it with a strawberry ice cream just to bring out those flavors. Yes, see. You could have done this. Go ahead. I like it better with the ice cream. Yes. So this is super important. People like Amy who, you don't tend to like sweet wines, but when you pair a sweet wine with a dessert, it's a nice balance. Look at Tanya's face. She's happy. This whole segment's about Tanya. This is where you live. So I told you the price of this wine, $19.99. Here's another thing. This is Royal Tea. So this wine is a little bit of an aphrodisiac. Ooh. Yes. So when Mark Anthony used to court Cleopatra, he used to bring her this wine, and so did Julius Caesar. Yes. So this one, Cap Bianca, is a little bit hard to find, but do me a favor, Google it. It's worth it. It's so good. Good pairing. This is such a good pairing. Tanya's not stopping. It's also good for spicy food. All right, let's keep it going. So I asked you both, what are your favorites? Are you excited? Look, y'all, they're pulling me, pushing me away. Get in there. So you like, Amy, this is, you like chocolate and peanut butter, and Tanya likes butter pecan, and I'm pairing it with one of my personal favorites. This is Taylor Port. Yes. Taylor Fladgate 20-year Tawny Port. Why do I like this pairing? Well, this wine goes really well with nuts and cheese, and since you both had nutty flavors in your favorite ice cream, I thought this was perfect. This wine is $55.99. 20-year basically is a blend of a lot of different tawnies, and the average age is 20, so it's got this beautiful caramel flavor. It's absolutely gorgeous. And the other thing about Port, it's a wine, and it's a fortified wine, so they're adding a neutral spirit to stop the fermentation, and this has medium sweetness. It's gorgeous. It's really pairs nicely with the peanut butter in here. Now, here's the interesting thing. The first time I brought this, you were like- I'm not a big fan. I know. But with your ice cream- I like it. I like it, I like it. And you know what? Here's what I love about this. I think wine should be fun. It should make you curious, and we spend too much time only focusing on expensive wines or your steak with a Napa Valley cap, but wine can just be easy, right? Wine and ice cream, wine and potato chips, make it a part of your everyday life. I must say, my favorite, actually, though, is the strawberry. Me too! I love that. That's my favorite. Yeah, it's good. That's my favorite ice cream, but that is the best pairing. You know what? You wouldn't drink on its own, but I liked them together really well. And if you have anything spicy, that brocchetto would be beautiful with spicy foods too. I bet you, yeah.