Dine Out: Wine-and-Cheese Ice-Cream Special

What happens when a top Melbourne ice-cream shop and an eco-conscious Victorian winemaker team up? For this year’s Dine Out festival, Billy van Creamy and Minimum Wines will transform a wine waste product into a wild, limited-edition dessert.

The star ingredient is lees – the natural sediment left at the bottom of wine vessels that usually gets thrown away. Minimum Wines salvaged sangiovese lees from its 2024 vintage, grown on Yorta Yorta Country in Toolamba. Minimum wild-fermented the batch on a hillside without power, before maturing it in aged oak barrels for two years with zero additions or sulphur.

Billy van Creamy has taken those lees and incorporated them into a rich, cheese-based ice-cream. The result is a take on a classic wine-and-cheese pairing, topped with a crunchy, house-made cracker. 

This Dine Out exclusive is available from Billy Van Creamy’s locations in Fitzroy North, Albert Park and Brunswick from July 20 to 26.