We would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday weekend!

May your grills be hot and your wines be true – be they Red, White, or Blue!

Wine is officially “all-American”, now donning all colors of our beloved American flag. Have you seen the latest news in wine innovation? We’ve been hinting at it… BLUE wine! As in, Red, White, and BLUE! (We just cannot get over it.)

A Spanish wine company, Gik (pronounced “geek”) is making their wines blue by using a special quality found in grape skins combined with naturally cultivated indigo.

Gik works with grapes from different areas of Spain to make their wine blends using both red and white grapes. The company’s wineries are located mainly in La Rioja, Zaragoza and Courthèzon. In case you’re wary of the blue coloring, Gik’s website assures that quality control checks are thorough, and everything used in wine making complies with EU food regulations.

Watch this brief interview of Taig Mac Carthy, Creator at Gik Blue Wine, at the ProWein Trade Fair in Germany this March. ProWein is the world’s leading trade fair for wine professionals, hosted annually in Germany.

Taig discusses how the innovative blue wine is going over at the German wine professionals trade fair, and how its radiant blue color is made:

For curious minds, Gik has answered the question – Why blue?:

“We are not vintners. We are creators. So we sought the most traditional and closed minded industry out there. Once having selected the wine industry as our battlefield, we set about creating a radically different product, changing the color to a vibrant blue and making the wine sweeter and easier to drink.When we started to work on our project we came across a book called The Blue Ocean Strategy. This explained that there are red oceans, full of sharks which have torn the little fish so much that they’ve tinted the water red. Then there are blue oceans, where there is no competition and fish swim un-harassed. Thus the poetic idea of transforming a red ocean into a blue ocean through changing the most traditional red liquid into blue was one which greatly appealed to us.

Apart from that, in psychology blue represents movement, innovation and infinity. It’s also a color frequently associated with flow and change.” (gik.blue)

Image from ProWeinTradeFair YouTube video “No red wine, no white wine, but blue wine!” Watch video below.

Before you go rushing to the store, know that Gik’s radiant blue wine is not yet available in the US. Until we are able to raise our glasses of Red, White, and Blue, we send our support from afar.The WineStyles concept shares Gik’s goal of demystifying the wine world for our customers. After all, wine tasting can (and should) be fun! And if you ask us, the more colorful, the better! #GikBlueWine

July Wine & Beer Boot Camp – Wines for Summer Grilling 

We know you’ll be out and about grilling, drinking wine and beer, and having a grand ‘ol time this 4th of July weekend celebrating America (and we support you in that endeavor!)

For further summer grilling and wine pairing preparation, join your local WineStyles for the next Wine and Beer Boot Camp Class, Wines for Summer Grilling! It will be a delicious event and the perfect complement to your summer grilling routine.

In this class, you will learn how to pair wines with your favorite grilling items, and of course the best part of learning is the tasting!  As part of our Boot Camp series in 2016, the more you LEARN the more you EARN in delicious wine tastings! Join us for multiple classes and you’ll be rewarded:

3 STAMPS = Free Wine Tasting for 2 people
6 STAMPS = Free Wine Tasting for 4 people
8 STAMPS = Free Wine Tasting Party, up to 20 people
11 STAMPS = Boot Camp Survivor T-shirt