An ’embarrassing’ wine from the 80s is back — but now it’s cool

The wine became ‘naff’ in the 80s, but it’s had a facelift in 2026 (Picture: Photo Media/ClassicStock/Getty Images) Ask anyone over a certain age about a German wine that was popular in the 80s, and watch their expression change. They’ll go through three stages of cringe in a split second – looking shifty, shaking their head, and letting out an involuntary snigger as they mentally flash back to their student days. Then they’ll utter two words: Blue Nun. Few things induce quite the same full-body recoil as admitting what we used to drink. And Blue Nun is the wine equivalent of admitting you once had a mullet, although those are back in fashion now too… The wine has been around for decades (Picture: Paul Stephen Pearson/Fairfax Media via Getty Images) What is Blue Nun? It is the best-selling German wine of all time, which went massively viral in the 80s. Created in 1921, it was an easy-drinking, semi-sweet white wine you’ll also know as Liebfraumilch, originally made from the Müller-Thurgau grape. Like many of the most successful things in life, the name comes down to an error – a printing error. The habits of the nuns on the label were turned from black to blue, so really, we have a low toner cartridge to thank. But why a nun? Liebfraumilch is a medieval term that describes ‘beloved lady’s milk’ from the convents and monasteries in the Rhine Valley. In fact, I’ve never heard of a nun or a monk who didn’t produce some kind of alcoholic beverage. Style-wise, the stuff our parents and grandparents were swigging was the bland, sweet stuff, which progressively became drier and more Riesling-dominated as time went on. This mirrored our progressively drier palates and a shift away from sweet wines. It was thanks to a relaunch in 1997 that the iconic blue bottle was introduced. Was it always so cringe? It wasn’t always cringe, celebs like Rod Stewart were fans of Blue Nun (Picture: Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Ask Metro Use AI to go deeper into the stories you care about – powered by Metro and trusted publications. There was a time when Blue Nun wasn’t something to be embarrassed about. In fact, quite the opposite, we couldn’t get enough of the stuff. We took it to parties, unironically served it at dinners, drank it by the bucket-load at university, and thought we were pretty sophisticated as it was a step up from Snakebite and Black. The peak of Blue Nun’s popularity was 1984 to 1985, when the brand was shifting 3.5 million bottles a year in the UK. Then, suddenly, it was as though we collectively woke up one morning surrounded by empty blue bottles and thought to ourselves, ‘not doing that again, that stuff is naff’. Since then, people deny ever liking Blue Nun. On social media, people are particularly harsh about it, with Andreas Schmidt writing: ‘It was good for cleaning the toilet.’ While Katie Swinton declared it a ‘hangover in a bottle’. Were you a fan of Blue Nun back in the day? Sign up to Metro's The Slice newsletter for your guide to what's on in London, with trusted reviews, offers and giveaways. Why is it back? It’s been bought by Les Grands Chais de France, who have given it a facelift and re-released it on the unsuspecting general public. It’s not the first time that’s happened, either. It had a makeover in 1998, a resurrection in 2001, a reinvention in 2010. And then there’s the nun on the label, who has transformed over the years, from the original image which some see as ‘disturbingly come-hither’, to a more traditional drawing with a Florence Nightingale-style vibe. It’s back and costs just £5.52 a bottle (Picture: Robertson Buckhaven) Now, you can find it in Asda for £5.52 a bottle. It’s back in our lives like Jacobs Creek, Mateus Rosé and leg warmers (are they back?). Only this time, I think it could actually work. Why? Because people are obsessed with the nostalgia of the 80s and 90s. Vol-au-vents and tinned fish are popular again, and the younger generation don’t have the Blue Nun baggage. Many haven’t even heard of it. Plus, Blue Nun’s 9.5% ABV fits our current obsession with moderation. The only question is whether this new version tastes any good, so I gave it a try… My verdict on Blue Nun It’s not my kind of wine, but I think the general public will love it (Picture: Robertson Buckhaven) I’ll be honest, it’s not my kind of wine; too sweet for my dry palate. But I tried a few bottles anyway, and here are my objective thoughts on how it will fare with the punters: Blue Nun Authentic White 9.5% ABV, £5.52, Asda Off-dry on the palate with a welcoming note of wet river stone, in a good way. There is a decent whoosh of zing midway through the sip, with white flower and honeycomb on the finish. A decent wine for under £6 from Asda. Blue Nun Riesling 9.5% ABV, £8.49. Drinksupermarket.com A notch up from the original, though not a £3 notch up. Instantly more citrus on the nose, bright notes of lemon sherbet and lemon meringue on the palate. Leaner, drier, and with a lovely pop of citrus honey on the finish. I predict the Great British Public will like the new iteration of Blue Nun. It’s crowd-pleasing, off-dry but not in a sickly way. It’s giving greater joy than harm these days, more ‘freude’ than ‘schaden’, if you will. 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