The number of nuns on the label of Blue Nun has risen and fallen, in line with the fortunes of the wine itself. Until the 1980s there were six nuns. Then three and then there was only one, just as the wine itself went from being a must-have at 1970s dinner parties, to languishing on the shelf. The wine itself – originally a Leibfraumilch - has a venerable history. First made in 1921 by the internationally-renowned Sichel family. Blue Nun was advertised extensively in the 1950s as a wine that could be drunk throughout a meal, which made it popular in post-War Britain and the US. But by the early 1990s, Blue Nun was a tired brand selling only around 80,000 cases in the UK, and unable to compete with New World wines.

Then in 1996, Sichel was bought by Mosel based Langguth, who put serious time and effort into upgrading the brand. The first thing to go was the Leibfraumilch. Blue Nun became a Qualitätswein from Rheinhessen. It was also made in a drier style, and packaged in a distinctive new blue bottle. From 2001, Langguth extended the brand to 12 wines, introducing a German Riesling, an ‘ice wine’, a Languedoc Merlot, an Australian Shiraz and even a Gold Edition sparkling, complete with flecks of 22-carat gold leaf. More than 40% of total sales now come from the line extension.

“There was a danger in it being only a German wine,” says marketing manager Armin Wagner. “Because of it being too singular in this maze of wines out there.” Wagner says the new range has let Blue Nun penetrate the Asian markets better, particularly China, plus overcome its old image problems. It also helps that the red wines are made with five to eight grams of residual sugar. “We made the wines instantly consumable and the Asian people picked this up immediately, because they’re still putting Sprite into dry Bordeaux,” says Wagner. “But the wine is still a typical French Merlot.” He says the important thing to note about the residual sweetness is that it pairs better with Asian foods than do drier, more acidic wines, that can turn the local cuisine bitter.

Traditional markets like the UK and the US haven’t been forgotten. Langguth now woo women in their 20s with the brand proposition ‘Just you, me and a bottle of Blue Nun’, which they support through holiday giveaways and fashion sponsorships. This has been a successful strategy: this year, the brand is on track to maintain or increase its 6.5m bottle sales, a far better result than the 3.5m bottles sold annually in the 1970s. There’s life in the old nun yet, it seems.