The federal government continues to try to get more businesses to go international, and that includes businesses in central New York.Among the success stories at a “Made in Rural America” conference in Cortland recently was the growth of an international market for Mercer’s wine ice cream. Mercer’s Dairy in Boonville has been a local ice cream institution for years on Route 12, halfway between Utica and Watertown.Owner Roxaina Hurlburt says her business now extends to more than 15 countries, thanks to wine ice cream. the product was developed quite by accident at a Farm Days event sponsored by then Sen. Hillary Clinton."I always am next to the same wine guy, and we were taking vanilla ice cream and we were pouring wine and making floats," Hurlburt said. "Jim Trezise, of the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, said, 'I don’t know why you just don’t make wine ice cream, this is a waste of time.' I said, 'well I don’t have wine.' He said, 'you do now,' and he sent me a case of wine. And
↧