It was cheap, sweet and some might say barely drinkable. But Blue Nun - once the biggest selling wine in Britain - is attempting to make a comeback this Christmas.

The German white wine, which was a must for any 1970s party, became something of a national joke but now it is being relaunched to cater for the more sophisticated tastes of the 1990s.

In the past couple of years the 1970s have been revisited with the vogue for disco music, prawn cocktail and chicken kiev but according to Hubertus Von Lobenstein from the advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi, Blue Nun does not fit into the same category.

"The 70s revival is carried by younger people, and younger people's taste is not sweet wine."

Blue Nun has been changed for this re-launch from its sweet almost sickly taste to a product that is drier and, the makers hope, more to modern tastes but even the wine's distributor thinks it will be a difficult job shaking off the products previously dodgy image.

Michael Jazebowski, who promotes the wine says modern tastes have changed and the new formula will have to measure up to get any success.

"Blue Nun suffered from what I call the Babycham (a popular 1970s drink) syndrome. Both in packaging terms and taste term things have moved ahead."

The new wine faces stiff competition from acknowledged quality wines from California, Australia and South Africa to name just three. But if Blue Nun is to be a best seller again it will have to get over an image problem worse than a pair of 28-inch cheese-cloth bell-bottoms.
 

Back to top | BBC News Home | BBC Homepage	©