A ros? by any other name would sell less quickly by Patricia Tisdall Anyone who has to make a practice of entertaining in unfamiliar surroundings will be acquainted with the range of wines which falls between plonk and fine. Medium- priced, branded wines like Blue Nun, Mateus Rose and Mouton-Cadet can be found on restaurant wine lists all over the country. They may not offer much excitement for the connoisseur, but to those dining in strange res- taurants they offer reassur- ance both to the palate and to the pocket. In commercial terms these three wines have enjoyed outstanding successes. H. Sichel & Sons will admit that wvithout Blue Nun which is one of the biggest-selling white table wines in Britain they could probably not have remained independent. Yet, at least in the early days, the success of Liebfraumilch Blue Nun appears largely accidental. A large part of the suc- cess-it is believed-can be attributed to the name which was and is still easily pro- nounceable, compared with most German names, and the label wyhich is distinctive. Both name and label were evolved largely by chance: for the first year or so after the launch in the 1920s, the words Blue Nun were not used at all. At this stage advertising was not even contemplated. Distribution was built up by word-of-mouth recommenda- tion to a network of wholesalers, hotels and res- taurants. Demand, inter- rupted by the Second World War, built up steadily. When the concentration of the wvine trade took place and wine lists were edited Blue Nun remained. In 1954 Sichel took the daring step of advertising, in a move intended to consoli- date the Blue Nun market and to widen distribution. A modest ?5,000 appropriation was set aside which has since grown to nearer ?50,000. Its theme has been the answer to the question of which wine to drink with what foods and a number of humorous techniques em- ployed. As is almost inevitable in such' a tightly-knit ildustry, Blue Nun's advertising has received its share of crit- icism. But the fact r emains that this wine sells in no fewer than 96 countries, except oddly enough in Ger- many, its country of origin. 'Sales everywhere are in- creasing very satisfactorily, with the North American market making quite star- tling headway ", Mr D. R. Williams, a director of Sichel's says cautiously, adding: " In the United Kingdom, Blue Nun sales are increasing at a rate well above the total import fig- ures ". A recent visit to the com- pany's cellars, picturesquely situated underneath the Strand in London, offered graphic confirmation. The wine which is shipped in bulk from Germany is bot- tled here and the frantic pre-Christmas activity was more impressive proof of success than a thousand sta- tistics. While Blue Nun's success is partly attributed to its name and label that of another wine in the popular category, Mateus Ros6, is said to lie in the shape of its bottle. Mateus, a sparkling rose wine from Portugal, is claimed to be the largest selling single brand of table wine in the United King- dom-a position which it has held since 1966. The wine is distinctive, containing the characteristic slight sparkle of the wines from Minho and Tras-os-Montes e Alto Douro Provinces. However, as Bass Charrington Vint- ners (who took over the British agency for Mateus two years ago) will readily acknowledge the outstand- ing feature is the bottle. Aided by a fairly heavy advertising programme in colour magazines and news- papers the Mateus bottle is one which can be instantly identified by even the most unsophisticated consumer. Not that the people who enjoy Mateus are unsophisti- cated. As Mr Roger Hollo- way, marketing director of BCV, points out, Mateus drinkers continue to be in the upper social and eco- nomic brackets. Success however brings its own dangers. The Mateus bottle and name became so familiar that at one time off licences were using displays retailing at below cost price to draw customers to the store. Naturally over-fre- quent appearances in cut price dump bins did nothing to improve the brand's image. This setback (from the shipper's viewpoint) has now been overcome. Customers are unlikely to find Mateus much below the suggested retail price of ?1.02 a bottle. The restaurant trade, a vital factor in all medium quality wine marketing, has been reassured. With an increase in sales of 30 per cent in 1972 over last year, Mr Ho]- loway is satisfied with Mateus's performance. Falling in a different con- sumer category from Mateus or Mouton-Cadet (BCV's big *:laret brand) is Einva Cream Cyprus Sherry. It is well known that Britain is the largest sherry consuming nat-on and that, despite attempts to prove otherwise, it likes its sherry sweet rather than dry. Emva Cream, wvhich falls in price and quality betwveen the enormously popular Brit- ish sherry types and the superior true sherry from Spain, has been a winner. Volume sales continue to be enormous making Emva, in one of those carefully rea- soned statements beloved by the trade, "the largest sell- ing brand of imported wine in the United Kingdom ". All these wines ranging from Mouton-Cadet, which is on the high side of middle quality, to Emva Cream have their place aniong wine- drinking fraternities. They offer consistency in that they are wines, in the words of Mr Holloway, "that you know are all right ". Four of the best selling wines in Britain, Mateus Rose, Emva Cream Cyprus sherry, Blue Nun Liebfraumilch, and Mouton-Cadet, on sale at the Old Bell in Fleet Street, London. A rose by any other name would sell less quickly