Blue Nun’s Peter Sichel Dies Aged 102

Wine producer and international spy Peter Sichel has died at the age of 102 following a life of espionage, intrigue and plenty of Blue Nun. Peter Sichel, one of the global wine trade's most fascinating figures, died on 25 February 2025 at his home in Manhattan. Born in Mainz, Germany, in 1922 to a Jewish family, Peter Sichel was exposed to the world of wine at a young age with his grandfather owning the H. Sichel Söhne winery, which he had established in 1857. Sichel was educated in England, first at St Cyprian’s Preparatory School and then Stowe School, before starting an apprenticeship in his grandfather’s office in Bordeaux. His parents fled Germany, and the growing influence of the Nazi party, to move to France. When the Axis forces conquered France, Sichel was imprisoned, eventually escaping to the US, where he joined the Office of Strategic Services (being multi-lingual no doubt helped to secure his position), and embarked upon a career as a spy. Sichel ran agents in Germany, using prisoners of war to infiltrate the German western front. During this period he met and worked with Jack Hemingway, the son of Ernest Hemingway, until Hemingway was captured by the Germans.  After the war Sichel worked for the Strategic Services unit in Berlin, reporting in early 1946 on the methods used by the Soviets to control political parties in occupied Germany (later East Germany). Sichel then worked for the CIA in Berlin, Washington and Hong Kong, at one point ascending to the role of Head of the CIA in Berlin, before leaving the agency in 1960.

Return to the wine trade

Sichel returned to the wine trade, taking over his family business in Germany, although he continued to reside primarily in the US. One of the first key decisions he made was to appoint the Schieffelin Company, an importer and distributor, to take on the family's portfolio, which included a German white wine called Blue Nun. Sichel famously positioned this as a “wine that could be drunk throughout an entire meal”, and few could have anticipated the commercial success it would enjoy over the next few decades. Despite releasing its first vintage in 1921, Blue Nun became wildly popular in both the US and the UK in the '70s and '80s, selling for the same price as some first and second-growth Bordeaux.  A series of radio adverts in the 1970s, featuring the comedy act Stiller and Meara, boosted Blue Nun sales in the US by 500%. At its peak popularity in the 1980s, more than 1.25 million cases of Blue Nun were sold in the US per year, plus another 300,000 in the UK, 200,000 in Canada and 50,000 in Australia. In 1988 Sichel diversified his wine interests by planting his own vineyard in the village of Cucugnan, in the the Languedoc-Roussillon, with Grenache, Syrah, Carignan and Roussanne, which is still productive today. The following year, in 1989, Sichel received the Distinguished Service Award from the Wine Spectator, and took the role of president of the International Wine and Spirit Competition in 1991. He sold his company, including the rights to Blue Nun, in 1995 to Germany wine company Langguth-Erban, although maintained his role as the principal shareholder of the Bordeaux château Forcas-Hosten in Listrac until 2006 when he sold it to members of the Hermes family.

Sichel family today

Two of his children, Alex and Sylvia Sichel, went into filmmaking and screenwriting, while his other daughter Bettina followed in his footsteps and is now a partner in Californian winery Lauren Glen Vineyard. The extended Sichel family also owns Château Palmer, Château Angludet, Château Argadens and Château Daviaud. Today, Domaine Peter Sichel is run by Peter's grandson Alexander Sichel, who converted the estate to organic and biodynamic viticulture. Bottles are currently available in the UK via Berry Bro. & Rudd, starting from around £25.