Creativity has no limits: Argentine wine producers know that their product is top quality but admired and awarded as they are across the world, uses for Argentine grapes don’t stop at the noble drink: for years now, master ice cream and winemakers have been experimenting (with great success) in wine ice creams.
From Cafayate, Salta, to Mendoza, a country with a rich ice cream tradition has seen winemakers join in to entice tourists and locals with a new way to enjoy their most interesting varieties.
Cafayate, pioneers of wine ice cream
In 1996, Ricardo Miranda, a businessman from Salta, had an idea that he would later register and make his trademark: to be the first to create wine ice cream. Hailing from a province with a lengthy viticultural history, he chose two local varieties for his venture: Torrontés, an icon of Cafayate and Cabernet Sauvignon. It was an immediate success, with Torrontés proving especially suitable: the aromatic ice cream, fresh, white and sweet, was an exquisite distillation of the spirit of the region. The public also loved the Cabernet: a very Calchaquí red that expressed the flavor of the terroir and boasted a lovely violet color.
After this achievement, other ice cream makers formed partnerships with wineries to continue expanding the range of ice creams made with wine. Of course, the trend also spread beyond Salta into other winemaking provinces.
Wine ice cream made in Mendoza
Inspired by these alliances between wine and ice cream makers in Salta, Mendozan ice cream makers decided to join the party and started to add local wines to their products. Traditional parlors in Mendoza such as Ferruccio Soppelsa and Dante Soppelsa pioneered the initiative.
Flavio Soppelsa, Dante’s son, remembers how it started: about fourteen years ago, they decided to add wine to their recipes for an event at a winery. Their moment of inspiration became an opportunity that spawned over a dozen flavors based on different varieties such as Mullet, Malbec, Syrah, Chenin, Bonarda and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Given that it was happening in the spiritual home of the Argentine wine industry, it was only to be expected that it would catch on. And so large wineries such as Trivento saw an opportunity to win over a larger audience by diversifying their output.
The partnership between Bodega Trivento and the premium ice cream maker INNamorato first produced, in December 2023, “White Malbec by Trivento”, an ice cream made with white Malbec. The product, conceived by Trivento, was a hit and sold well in Argentina and overseas. Based on water and wine with the addition of red fruit to bring out the Malbec notes, it was available in a special edition for the 2023-2024 harvest.
Pablo Mampel, the head of marketing at INNamorato, explained that they were looking for the perfect match between ingredients to produce a new flavor experience. Those lucky enough to try it were surprised by the mixture of textures but also by this new way of enjoying white Malbec: its silvery color, freshness and the flavors in the mouth and the nose; green apple, lychee and even pineapple.
For this harvest season, Trivento and INNamorato are presenting a new flavor: Maximum Red Blend ice cream with refined red fruit. This time, the ice cream is made with 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Malbec. A rich red in color with a spicy, sensual feel, it delivers ripe, dark fruit notes. The oak ageing also lends the ice cream an aromatic complexity that comes through in notes of tobacco, vanilla and cinnamon. The master ice cream maker then added a red fruit jelly.
The project, they say, is similar to a chef inventing a new dish. Working together with Maximiliano Ortiz, head oenologist for the premium line at Trivento, they sought to bring out all of the character of the wine in the ice cream.
Andrés Povedano, Brand Manager at Bodega Trivento, believes that the partnership shows the versatility of wine and how it can adapt to different forms of consumption.
Every season brings more partnerships producing wine ice cream. For instance, Mendoza also has those offered to locals and tourists by the ice cream parlors La Parrala and Lomoro. “Most of the demand is coming from locals but I think they should be promoted more during vacations and long weekends for tourists,” says Soppesa, whose family pioneered this delicious crossover.
