A year or so ago we tried Mercer’s Wine Ice Cream, made in New York State. The Port ice cream was a standout, but at the time there was no online distribution. Now, a NIBBLE reader from St. Louis writes that he tried the flavors locally, also likes the Port, and recommends a local distributor, FrostOnTheVine.com, that will ship them. There’s a four-pint minimum ($10.00 a pint plus shipping). For a special holiday dessert, that’s not bad, and the four pints will go fast. You can mix and match flavors (the others are Peach White Zinfandel, Red Raspberry Chardonnay and Royal White Riesling), but we’d stick with the Port—which is formally named Ala Port, by some person who does not understand that (a) Port is named after the Portuguese town of Porto (a.k.a. Oporto) from whence the wine was originally shipped, not after the French word for door (la port), (b) one should never make up fake French, but if one must, one should spell it correctly (À la Port, not Ala Port), and (c) if you have four flavors in a line, you should follow a nomenclature—not serve up three names in English and one in “French.”

You can’t make these at home: Freezing alcohol and ice cream (or sorbet) successfully is something even the professionals have to work at. For a great line of wine sorbets, read our review of Wine Cellar Sorbets, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week. You can find more of our favorite ice creams and sorbets in the Desserts Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. And for the answers to the differences between ice cream, French ice cream, sorbet, sherbet and other frozen delights, check out our Ice Cream & Frozen Desserts Glossary.

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