SYRACUSE, N.Y. — When then-U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton put the grape growers next to the ice cream people at a Washington showcase of New York farm products, she sparked a kind of strategic serendipity.

Roxaina Hurlburt and her niece Ruthie, of Boonville N.Y. with a major boost from former Sen. Hillary Clinton, invented wine ice cream at Mercer’s Dairy – growing their business from a 100-mile radius to Dubai, Malaysia and elsewhere around the world. What works is the perfect pairings of wine and ice cream and the women who made it happen. Also, Clinton said she used what she learned from promoting Mercer’s and other Upstate businesses in her job at the Dept. of State.

Mercer’s Dairy makes six flavors of wine ice cream and exports it to 15 countries and counting.imgres-10