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Is Blue Wine Legit? EU Ruling Says it's not Even Wine
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Is Blue Wine Legit? EU Ruling Says it’s not Even Wine

Last summer, a Spanish start up composed by six twenty-somethings launched Gik, a blue wine made from a blend of white and red grapes coloured with anthocyanin, a pigment found in the skin of the grapes and indigotine, a plant-based food dye (both natural and organic). Hipsters selfied while wine snobs cringed, and while generating mixed reactions, it sold 100,000 bottles in over two dozen countries.

However, last week, producers revealed their struggle with policy makers after an anonymous complaint caused inspectors to order the company to stop labeling their product as “wine”, since “blue wine” doesn’t belong into any of the 17 categories for wine products in EU legislation.

Spanish law only acknowledges red, rosé and white wines, and therefore, Gik would have to be re-branded into the category of “Other alcoholic drinks”, something quite undesirable for the company, which has based their identity in being a disruptive product in the wine scene.

They have launched a petition on change.org, titled “Help us create our own category #FreedomOfColor” where they state that when they created Gik, their aim was to innovate in the most traditional sector of Spain, the wine industry.

In order to continue selling, we have been forced to stop labeling Gik as a wine. Instead, we had to label it as a bastard category named “Other alcoholic drinks”. The main reason? There’s not a category for a blue wine, as there is no historic background for anything similar.

By the time we report (26th January, 2017, 10:00 am) the petition had gathered 44 supporters.

More information gik.blue

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