The New True Blue Wine
The New True Blue Wine
5 years ago, a group of college students in Spain dedicated their time and talent to make sure they turned the food and beverage industry on its head, so 5 student entrepreneurs named Imanol, Inigo, Gorka, Aritz and Taig picked the most traditional consumable of all: wine. Putting a twist on tradition, their consumable product is the first of its kind, blue wine!
Photo: Today.com
After two years of research at the University of the Basque Country with the help of in-house, professional chemical engineers and an outside centre for food innovation, they launched their company, Gik Live! In 2015, with a record sale of 30,000 bottles in its first year and nearly 500,000 this past year, Gik Live! exports to 21 countries (the United States being its main market & France its second) all with a company of only 12 employees. Electric blue in colour, the wine is made of mainly white wine with a small amount of red and a tiny bit of freshly-crushed grape juice. The innovative Gik Blue is made in several wineries in Spain following the traditional winemaking process and can be found online and in a few restaurants in Spain. While Gik Live used to use sugar substitutes, the company has stated that it has added dessert wine instead to finish the controversial product off with a sweet taste.
Prices online range roughly from $13 to $15 a bottle
Photo: Gik.blue
Reaction to the blue wine has been mixed: "Not bad" was the verdict of the former head sommelier at the Paris Ritz. In Europe, the company has had to label Gik Blue an "alcoholic drink" as authorities have ruled it isn't wine due to its blue hue, but if you happen to purchase it in the United States, it will be labeled as wine.
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