News

Mar 31, 2025

Wine and ice cream, the pairing that has Gen Z going wild

We all know that sherry goes excellently with trifle and the combination of a crêpe suzette flambéed with brandy is equally good. But ice cream and wine? The “unconventional” sip and serve has had a

We all know that sherry goes excellently with trifle and the combination of a crêpe suzette flambéed with brandy is equally good. But ice cream and wine?

The “unconventional” sip and serve has had a spring awakening after a number of dedicated venues opened, with experts saying it appeals to Gen Z who are less interested in an old-fashioned night out of drinking.

The Dreamery in Islington is thought to be driving the trend in London. It describes itself as an “artisan ice cream parlour” and wine bar — a “mashup of a Parisian bistro, Italian espresso bar and an English sweet shop”, said Alex Young, who co-founded it with George De Vos. The artist Lucy Stein, Rick Stein’s niece, painted colourful murals on the ceiling.

“I don’t think ice cream and wine are such unusual bedmates,” Young added. “Most notable is Folderol in Paris.” Folderol, a wine bar and ice cream shop, saw huge queues after going viral on TikTok — but was originally envisioned as a family-friendly venue where parents could have a glass of wine while the children have ice cream.

When The Dreamery opened in December, it too went viral — with searches up 256 per cent on TikTok last week. The hashtags “ice cream” and “wine” have had two million hits each.

“Women especially love it — sometimes we can have only a handful of men in,” said Young. “People come after dinner for sure, but there’s a whole lot who come before dinner which is fun.”

The unlikely combination is reminiscent of the cult concept restaurant Bubbledogs in Fitzrovia, which served champagne and hot dogs and nothing else. Hated by critics and with punters queuing round the block, it was the fun of the unexpected niche that appealed to people.

More savoury ice cream options have partly added to the rise in popularity. Oranj, an organic wine-only restaurant in Shoreditch, east London, and 40 Maltby Street, a reservation-free restaurant in Bermondsey, southeast London, have been serving the pairing with sommelier recommendations. Now venues in Bath are following suit.

“People are watching their pockets more and so maybe they don’t want to come out for a full meal with an expensive bill,” said Marco Leanza, who runs the restaurant Dough in Bath. “But this younger generation are less interested in just going out drinking as well, so combining the ice cream makes them feel like they’re doing something other than boozing and it’s a fun, different experience at the same time.”

Dough serves ice cream and wine in a traditional Italian way, said Leanza. “Sgroppino is an old-school drink originally from Venice and served across Italy, and mixes prosecco and lemon sorbet — a classic combination — with vodka for that extra kick,” he said.

“We’ve also paired a minutolo white grape from Puglia, which is a bit like a chardonnay, with a coconut ice cream and a chocolate ice cream with a light sangiovese because it’s young reds that go very well with chocolate.”

Will Torrent, an innovation chef at Waitrose, said that ice cream and wine was one of his “favourite combinations”, with sales of Madagascan vanilla ice cream rising by 104 per cent. The retailer’s ice cream buyer, Joe Sharkey, added: “Young people are redefining everything by prioritising trend-led choices and social media inspiration.”

Federica Zanghirella, a sommelier and the vice-president of the UK Sommelier Association, said that the wines sometimes “paid the price” due to the temperature of ice cream. “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 explained.

Choose a powerful wine, she advised, with a structure that can withstand the temperature change, and match the flavour profiles of the ice cream or sorbet with colours of wine.

“For sorbets or fruit-based ice creams that are yellow or orange or peach match a sweet wine made from dried grapes, such as passito, vin santo, Rivesaltes or Málaga Muscat. For dark fruits like berries or cherry tastes pair a sweet red wine, such as recioto, maury, banyuls, red vin santo or ruby port.”

Anthony and Caroline Holden, 75 and 71, from Bath, put the Waitrose pairings to the test.

Leckford Estate Brut with peach melba ice cream

Caroline: This goes really well actually. Even though the ice cream is sweet, it doesn’t make the wine taste sour.

Anthony: We’d normally only have wine with dessert for a special occasion — we’d have a coffee instead. But this combination makes you feel dizzy.

Blueprint Moscatel de Valencia with pistachio ice cream

Caroline: Gorgeous wine. Oh my God that ice cream is wonderful. Wine feels sweeter than the ice cream in this combo, unlike the previous one.

Anthony: I’d prefer a less chewy ice cream because I now need to brush the nut topping out of my teeth, but yes nice flavours together.

Blueprint Fairtrade Pinotage with millionare’s ice cream

Caroline: Who would have thought of these two together? It’s very different. The wine does it more for me than the ice cream, very sweet and that makes the wine even drier.

Anthony: [The] chocolate ice cream is gorgeous. Like a Mars bar. But the red is too dry for me — I don’t love that combo.

Blueprint Romanian Pinot Noir with Belgian chocolate and sour cherry ice cream

Caroline: I can now see why they think sweet pudding, dry wine — this combination works much better than the last. What fun!

Anthony: Best ice cream yet — the cherry is gorgeous and the wine goes much better. That was nice.

Reserve Tawny Port with tiramisu ice cream

Caroline: Blimey (wincing). The ice cream makes the port very sour, but it’s actually quite a sweet port. Port first, ice cream second is great because the port really enhances the flavour of the ice cream. Other way round not so good. I think I prefer a less alcoholic wine in the combo.

Anthony: This is a winner. This trend definitely shouldn’t be just for the kids.

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