Riesling ice cream and wine coolers

Wine Month – Riesling

We tried out Fritz Windisch Selzer Osterberg 2006 Riesling. It’s a very sweet, florid and fruity Riesling with notes of honey, sweeter than many of the others that we’ve had previously. However, we only learned this after drinking it; the purchase was made solely because the label looks the most German.

German wine doesn't get a whole lot of play, so we feel compelled to give a shout out to Gewürztraminer, another sweet white, mostly because it's fun to say (ge-VURTZ-tra-mee-ner).

We're big fans of the Wine Cellar sorbets (thought not the $8+ per pint price tag), so when we found this recipe for Riesling ice cream it seemed like the perfect desert with which to celebrate wine month. Riesling ice cream sounds like it should be difficult, but in actuality only has a few ingredients and the prep goes pretty quickly. We used this recipe from Epicurious but opted out of the anise cookies, because anise is gross.

• 1 1/2 cups cream
  
• 1/2 cup half and half
  
• 2/3 cup sugar
  
• 4 large egg yolks
  
• 1 cup late harvest Riesling wine

Bring 1/2 cup cream and 1/2 cup half and half to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Whisk sugar and yolks in medium bowl to blend. Whisk in hot cream mixture. Return mixture to saucepan; stir over medium-low heat until custard thickens and leaves path on back of spoon when finger is drawn across, about 4 minutes, do not boil. Strain into bowl. Mix in wine and 1 cup cream. Chill custard until cold.

Process custard in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to covered container (ice cream will be soft) and freeze. (Can be prepared 1 week ahead.)

After trying this, we realized that we should just make our own frozen wine treats and save the money. The ice cream is great - sweet and very creamy, much more so than the Wine Cellar sorbet. It tastes strongly of the Riesling (in a good way) and keeps the fruitiness of the wine, with a buttery aftertaste. A little sprinkle of cinnamon is a nice compliment.

In addition to making a wine ice cream, we tried some cocktails too. If this wine seemed easy to sip on its own, in a mixed drink it became downright gulpable.

The first drink we tried was like juice for adults. It’s called the Hot Springs:

• 1 ½ oz wine
  
• 1/2 oz pineapple juice
  
• ¼ oz maraschino liqueur
  
• dash orange bitters

Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. We added a maraschino cherry.

This drink was gone in the blink of an eye. The usual cocktail packs a few ounces of high-proof spirits that slows most tipplers down. But the Hot Springs is sweet and simple as a country lass, and just as easy:

The second drink we tried was also easy but not nearly so tasty. We tried making our own White Wine Cooler. Just dissolve ½ tsp of superfine sugar in soda, add wine and ice. This drink could also be called Blasé Blanc. Watered down, sweet, and fizzy, we could bottle this up and sell it to teenagers. Hm, without Zima there is a hole in the market…