FOOD NEWS
What Is Blue Wine, And How Does It Receive Its Bold Hue?
By Elaina Friedman
Today, wine drinkers don't only have to choose between red and white options but a myriad of colors — including a blue wine that's been around for Europeans since 2015.
Introduced by the entrepreneurs behind the Spanish wine company Gik, blue wine gets its hue in part from a secret blend of red and white grapes from various regions of Spain.
These Spanish grapes impart a heavy dose of the grape-skin pigment anthocyanin. A dye derived from the Isatis tinctoria plant is also used to tint the wine and deepen its hue.
However, Gik wine only lasted on French shelves for a few days after it was discovered that its production process violated European wine-labeling rules.
French entrepreneur René Le Bail started his own blue wine company, Vindigo, but French vineyards were too scarred by Gik to work with Le Bail, so he took his operations to Spain.
Vindigo wine starts as chardonnay and also gets its hue from anthocyanins, but it doesn't include indigo dye, resulting in it being slightly lighter in color than Gik wine.
Le Bail said his wine is characterized by its "fruity taste," with notes of "cherry, passion fruit, and blackberry." Not all reviewers agree, and one called it "funny tasting."