Dubai`s latest wine includes 24-carat gold but no alcohol

Dubai built the world’s tallest building, put a ski slope inside a shopping mall and gave its cops a Lamborghini for a police car.

Where else would you sell a $150 bottle of ‘halaal’ non-alcoholic sparkling white wine with flecks of 24-carat edible gold leaf gleaming at the bottom?

It makes sense in Dubai, a Gulf Arab emirate that attracts tourists with the promise of an opulent lifestyle. Or so Tony Colley, head manager of Lootah Premium Foods, which distributes the wine, told Reuters.

“It has gold in it for no good reason apart from it’s fun, it’s fantastic, it’s frivolous, it’s totally Dubai,” Colley said recently at the Bystro restaurant, where the sleek bottles are on display.

Bystro owner Josh Benson said the gold-leaf bottles were offered a few weeks ago. The restaurant had begun offering non-alcoholic wines in general a few months ago, and they went over well.


more on ewn.co.za