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in wine today
Out of (the) habit
By
Georges Meekers
In between two World Wars, it became the mission of two nuns, initially
in brown habits, to ease the resistance to anything German through
wine.
Off they
went to convert Europe and North America, portrayed hand in hand
on an easy recognisable label that unlike a host of other German
wine bottles was not adorned with Gothic script and long complicated
names.
As things
go, both sisters soon went their separate ways. The most alluring
nun quickly changed into a more fashionable blue habit. Posing
under a bright blue sky, she made a name for herself as the Blue
Nun, one of the world’s most known wine labels, owned by
H. Sichel Söhne of Mainz.
In the 50’s,
Blue Nun was heavily advertised as the wine you could drink ‘right
through the meal’, thereby solving the awkward problem of
pairing food and wine.
The brand
name Blue Nun is now almost synonymous for Liebfraumilch, the
most commonly known German white wine.
But, in practice
almost any medium dry, vaguely aromatic blend can qualify as Liebfraumilch,
which means ‘milk of the Virgin’.
The legend
connects it to the Liebfraustift vineyard near Worms. Funnily
enough wine from the Liebfrauenstift vineyard itself takes the
name of Liebfrauenstift-Kirckenstück. Liebfraumilch itself
is always a blend from a much larger area.
It has become
a generic term for a medium-sweet blended white wine (18g/l residual
sugar) produced in one of the four regions of Rheinhessen, Phalz,
Rheingau or Nahe only. Most grapes are sourced in the fertile
Rheinhessen and Pfalz plains though.
Entitled
to Qualitatswein status it must consist of no less than 70 percent
of Riesling, Silvaner, Müller-Thurgau or Kerner. No mention
of the grape variety can be made on the label. Müller-Thurgau
rather than Riesling dominates the blend.
Blue Nun
and other brand names, such as Madonna, which is produced by Valkenberg,
were important in introducing millions of people to wine in the
70’s and 80’s.
Today’s
knowledgeable wine lover has fallen out of the habit. Since the
mid-80’s worldwide sales have more than halved.
Personal
tasting notes will have to be drawn from vague memories of binges
long past and read simply: typically low in alcohol, light, soft,
clean and reasonably fruity, quite sweet too and inexpensive...
Please, just this once, can I plea ‘temporarily palate fatigue’?
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