Blue Nun

Blue Nun is a German wine brand launched by the company H. Sichel Söhne (Mainz) in 1923 with the 1921 vintage, and which between the 1950s and 1980s was probably the largest international wine brand. For most of its existence, Blue Nun was a single German wine, which until late 1990s was classified as a Liebfraumilch, but the name is now used for a whole range of wines of various origins. When it was created, the label was designed as a consumer-friendly alternative to the innumerable German wine labels with Gothic script and long, complicated names. With the creation of its UK office in 1927, Sichel targeted the export market. Beginning in the 1950s, Blue Nun was advertised as a wine that could be drunk throughout an entire meal, thereby eliminating the often intimidating problem of wine and food pairing. Blue Nun can be said to have been the first wine to have been produced and effectively marketed with an international mass market in mind.

After World War II, the brand became spectacularly popular in the United Kingdom and the United States, selling for the same price as a second growth red Bordeaux wine. At its peak of popularity in 1984-1985, annual sales the United States were 1.25 million cases, with another 750,000 cases sold elsewhereFact|date=November 2007.

From late 1980s, and more in the 1990s, easy-drinking semi-sweet German wines began to lose in popularity in general. Consequently, the brand's popularity declined, and the wine began to be perceived as tacky and dated. This change was reflected in the drink of choice of a popular fictional over-the-hill British television and radio presenter, Alan Partridge [ [http://living.scotsman.com/food.cfm?id=713322006 Scotsman.com Living ] ] . However, sales increased after Blue Nun was purchased by the Mosel-based German family firm Langguth which bought the brand, along with the owning firm, Sichel, in 1996. They repositioned the brand, reclassifying it from a Liebfraumilch to a regular "Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete" (QbA), changing the grapes from Müller-Thurgau to 30% Riesling, and making it less sweet. It remains relatively low in alcohol at 9.5%.

From 2001 on, Langguth also embarked on a brand extension, and has introduced several other wines under the Blue Nun name, including a German Riesling ice wine, a Languedoc Merlot and a Spanish rosé. Sales in 2004 rose by 11% in the UK, but from a low base.

References to Blue Nun in popular culture and media

As well as being Alan Patridge's wine of choice, Blue Nun is also the official wine of the BBC current affairs program This Week. Cast and crew are issued with free Blue Nun on the completion of every installment of the series. A less appreciative reference was made by chef Gordon Ramsey during his appearance on the BBC comedy interview series Room 101, where he stated he would never serve Blue Nun wine in any of his restaurants.

The Beatles Song "Long, Long, Long" had a bottle of Blue Nun wine on a Leslie Speaker to give a rattling sound on the end of the song.

The wine is referenced on the track "The Blue Nun" on the Beastie Boys album, Check Your Head.

In the comic strip, Achewood, two cats named Roast Beef and Ray get drunk on Blue Nun during a road trip, describing it as "the wine so bad it made the news". [ [http://achewood.com/index.php?date=01292003 Achewood - January 29, 2003 ] ]

Mentioned in episode 2.4 of Life on Mars where Roger Twilling invites Sam Tyler over for "Blue Nun and vol-au-vents".

ee also

*German wine
*Wine label

ources

*Robinson, Jancis (Ed.) "The Oxford Companion to Wine". Oxford: Oxford University Press, second edition, 1999.
*Langguth Wine Link Provided by Steven Langguth

External links

* [http://www.bluenunwines.com/ Official website]
* [http://gollywinedrops.blogspot.com/2006/05/blue-nun-what-it-tastes-like.html Tasting note]
* [http://www.langguth.de/ Langguth Wines website]