In 2015, the world was introduced to Gik, Spain’s first blue wine. Unsurprisingly, the pool-colored product, developed by a group of students at the University of the Basque Country, raised some eyebrows (and turned up some sommeliers’ noses). Critics called Gik a gimmick.
Turns out, Gik is not a gag. The blue wine sold 30,000 bottles in its first year; close 500,000 in 2017; and is now exported to 21 countries. Its primary market? The U.S., where it debuted last year. Its second biggest market is France.
“We understand that for many people… wine is something sacred that mustn’t be changed,” Taig Mac Carthy, Gik co-founder, told the Local Spain. “But we like to change things and we’re not afraid to try.”
Skeptics can have their wine and drink it blue. Blue wine is, allegedly, all-natural. The color comes from two pigments, one that’s found in red grape skins, called anthocyanin, and another called indigo carmine. Gik, whose wine is produced at several wineries in Spain, says its color is an “industrial secret” resulting from a mashup of “nature and technology.”
Apparently, Bacardi picked up on the trend: its Bombay Sapphire gin brand announced a range of edible paints to “enhance the flavor of gin and tonic,” the Spirits Business reports. Its debut color? Blue.
Out with the old, in with the blue.