If you can’t have wine with alcohol, you might as well have wine with gold in it, or so logic seems to go in Dubai. According to the New York Daily News, Dismark Products, a Spanish corporation that producers a number of non-alcoholic wines, has launched “a $150 bottle of ‘halal’ non-alcoholic sparkling white wine with flecks of 24-carat edible gold leaf.”
According to the wine’s importer, Tony Colley, in Dubai they’re currently importing 26,000 bottles of their non-alcoholic products per month, and he expects that number to grow. But what’s with the gold? In a country known for elaborate skyscrapers, fake islands and ski parks (in the middle of the desert), and lots and lots of money, 24-carat gold wine is practically a given. According to Colley the gold serves absolutely no purpose, aside from the fact that, “it’s fun, it’s fantastic, it’s frivolous, it’s totally Dubai.” [New York Daily News]