Chilean terremoto — pipeño wine with pineapple ice cream, the fonda drink

It is the signature drink of the Fiestas Patrias fondas and ramadas: pipeño wine with pineapple ice cream. It was born in Santiago, at La Piojera and the bar El Hoyo, in the 1980s; the most repeated story says foreign journalists covering the 1985 earthquake tried it and said that after two glasses 'the ground was moving'. Hence the names for the second, smaller glass — the réplica, or aftershock — and for the pitcher, the cataclismo. It is sweet and easy to drink, but pipeño is 12-13 % alcohol: it goes to your head fast.

Pipeño is a young, unfiltered, unaged wine, sweet and slightly cloudy, made mostly in the Itata and Maule valleys and sold in bulk or in plain containers. Outside Chile (or outside September) it is hard to find. The closest substitute is a young sweet white wine, such as a moscatel or a gentle late harvest, mixed half and half with a dry white so it does not cloy. A dry white on its own also works: the ice cream brings the missing sweetness.

The alcohol-free version uses well-chilled white grape juice (or half grape juice and half ginger ale for some fizz) with the same scoop of pineapple ice cream on top. It keeps the look and the fun of eating the ice cream with the spoon. Serve it in different glasses from the adults' so there is no mix-up at the table.

The original at La Piojera is just pipeño and pineapple ice cream. Grenadine became popular in the fondas and in downtown Santiago bars for the red colour and extra sweetness: it is the most common version today. Fernet is added in some bars to cut the sweetness with bitterness and raise the strength. Neither is wrong; in this recipe both are optional and go in small amounts (a teaspoon per glass) so they do not cover the pipeño.

Pineapple is traditional because its acidity balances the sweetness of the pipeño, and a water-based sorbet works better than a dairy ice cream, which curdles and leaves lumps in the wine. If there is no pineapple, lemon or passion fruit give a similar result. Avoid creamy vanilla or chocolate: the drink turns heavy and cloudy.

Count one 300 ml terremoto per adult as a welcome drink, and a réplica (150 ml) for those who go again: for 10 adults, 3 litres of pipeño and a litre of pineapple ice cream. Make it glass by glass on the spot; a pitcher with the ice cream inside melts and separates within 10 minutes. Keep everything cold from the morning: pipeño in the fridge, ice cream in the freezer until the last second.