Blue Nun: The Wine at the Center of Everything (Jul 2025)

Blue Nun: The Wine at the Center of Everything

BY NEAL MARTIN | JULY 15, 2025

No other bottle has been a wellspring for so many tales. No other brand has permeated culture like the star of this article.

Ladies and gentlemen, Blue Nun.

I know what you are thinking. There he goes again. Those Brits and their irony. A bit of whimsy, comic relief. Why invest words in a wine that has been the butt of countless jokes for years. A vinous totem for someone who is bereft of a discerning palate, one helplessly marooned in the seventies.

Au contraire. By the end of this article, you will be as glad to have read it as I was to write, not that it will entice you to cancel your allocation from Egon Müller and replace it with Blue Nun. That is not my intention. However, let the court state for the record that this bottle incited more remarks and responses than any other this year.

So why?

Peter
Sichel with his favourite tipple, pictured in the 1960s.

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Connoisseurs may look down their noses at Blue Nun, myself included, yet it played a crucial role in democratising wine. An homage to the extraordinary late Peter Sichel, this is the story of a unique 62-year-old bottle of Blue Nun and how the brand is intertwined with culture. It might not entice you to drink Blue Nun, but you will be entertained…

2025