Wine into cheese.

Inspired perhaps by my recent purchase of a bottle of Blue Nun, Vinomaker disappeared into the bowels of Vinoland only to reappear with this litre bottle of Doktor Itschner, 1983 Liebfraumilch (Rheinhessen). Yet another gem from the remnants of his father's wine cellar - which surely must be reaching exhaustion by now.  (One can only pray.)  Older wines can be peculiar.
Recently I tasted an older red wine that brought to mind beetroots.  A winemaker (actually the winemaker at TWWIAGE) told me that the specific organic compound that causes wine to taste/smell like beetroots is a terpene called geosmin.  However, wine-fault aside, the wine still tasted like, y'know, wine. Unfortunately, this was not the case with the almost 33 year old Liebfraumilch.  No, it tasted like liquid cheese - yes, cheese.  There was not one clue that this liquid had ever been wine.  Not even the Madonna on the label could save the integrity of this aged wine.

Blue Nun.

I cannot recall going to a 'cheese and wine' evening in the 1980s and there not being at least one bottle of Blue Nun present (with the odd bottle of Black Tower thrown in for good measure, of course).  Yum, cubed-cheddar on cocktail sticks and Liebfraumilch, tasty.  Yes, the Blue Nun of my youth was labelled as Liebfraumilch (or beloved Lady's Milk), and was usually a blend of Riesling, Silvaner and Müller-Thurgau.
Blue Nun is no longer labelled as such, now the producers value their reputation.  These days, calling anything a Liebfraumilch is considered a negative when it comes to marketing.  (Think cubed-cheddar on cocktail sticks.)  The bottle of Blue Nun in the photograph is simply labelled "Authentic White" (as opposed to...?) and is now made from Rivaner (so says the back label), a.k.a. Müller-Thurgau.  At only 10% alcohol, this sweet white wine, in its oddly blue-hued hock bottle, actually tasted better than I remembered. The wine had a wonderful nose, truly deep snort-worthy, and although the palate was well balanced it was cloyingly sweet. And what possessed me to purchase a bottle of The Nun after all these years? (And may I add, this wine was not easy to find, it took some effort.)
I was inspired to once again taste Blue Nun because I have just finished reading The Secrets of My Life: Vintner, Prisoner, Soldier, Spy by Peter M. F. Sichel.  Herr Sichel is the man credited with making Blue Nun a runaway international wine-brand success story.  What an interesting life this man has led; escaping Nazi Germany, schooling in England, spying for the Central Intelligence Agency and creating one of the most recognisable wine brands on the planet.  It was a great book, written in an easy conversational tone that almost felt like I was sitting with Peter Sichel in his living room. Sharing a bottle of Blue Nun, perhaps.