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I've routinely take my family on winter vacations in New England for decades, and I've driven through all sorts of blizzards -- snow, ice, you name it! And I've found that all my Volvos, from '73 on, have always been great in snowy conditions (okay, I also routinely used the best studded snow tires such as Nokia (now Nokians), too, but even an early snowfall at home that came before I had a chance to mount them were handled very well by my Volvos). The station wagons are better, of course (more weight in the rear, from all that heavy glass), but the Volvos in general are MUCH better than all the other cars I've had (my Mercedes-Benz sedans (e.g., 300E) have been particuarly awful -- the rears are too light, and their final drive ratios are too low -- i.e., too much torque, promoting wheelspin -- see below). I even have a 4WD '84 Mercedes Gelaendewagen (gray market), a.k.a., GWagen, that I leave home when it snows -- it can't be controlled with as much finesse as the Volvo (it's more of a brute, good for snowdrifts 2 to 3 feet deep, rather than very slippery light snow and ice on a roadway). The higher ratio on the AW-70 (3-speed+OD), in high gear, lets you go without letting the wheels break traction and spin -- thus, no fishtailing.
One thing I might ask.... does your volvo, by any chance, have the limited-slip differential option? If you do, that would be a reason for your problems.
Contrary to popular myth, limited slips (while great at the racetrack or in sand) are awful in snow or ice, because they will cause both rear wheels to spin -- whereas the usual, open differential will spin only one wheel. Why is that good? When a wheel spins, it loses all "lateral traction" (which is needed to resist sliding sideways). As long as you have one of your two wheels not spinning, it can hold the rear of your car in proper line. Spin both wheels and there is nothing to keep your rear end from fishtailing around in a circle.
Otherwise, I'd say just be judicious in your application of the gas pedal, and perhaps buy a set of good snow tires. If you are using too much pedal, it's usually because you're relying on wheelspin to "power" your way through the snow and ice because your tires don't have enough traction. With snow tires, you'll need less gas pedal application to advance, and that means less wheelspin, and that means less fishtailing.
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