Those with a nose for nostalgia enjoy old standbys
Those ’70s faves like Baby Duck, Mateus Rosé, Blue Nun, Moselland Riesling and Carlo Rossi California Red still sell, but do they stand up ?
A handful of labels are household names. Not necessarily because they’re good but because nostalgia makes them so. I’m referring to such wines as Baby Duck, Mateus Rosé, Blue Nun, Moselland Riesling (the cat-shaped bottle), and Carlo Rossi California Red (that iconic glass jug). These are wines you probably tasted in your 20s or watched your parents and grandparents pour with pride in the ’70s and ’80s. But who is drinking them now? A lot of people, apparently. In 2019, the LCBO sold about 70,000 bottles of Baby Duck, 245,000 bottles of Mateus Rosé, 60,000 bottles of Blue
Nun, 42,000 bottles of Moselland Riesling, and more than 400,000 bottles of Carlo Rossi California Red.
So, I decided to taste these wines to see how they fare.
I started with Baby Duck (LCBO 1123 $12.60/1.5 L), the old school sparkling rosé launched in 1971. I peeled off the foil, removed the wire cage, and popped the, er, plastic plug. Then, I poured a glass of the fuchsia fizz. With the scent of cream soda and flavour of liquid cotton candy, this wine seemed more like alcopop than wine. I’ll take a hard pass on recommending it. Next I tasted Mateus Rosé (LCBO 166 $10.45/750 mL) — you know, Portugal’s popular pink wine that comes in the recognizable flask-shaped bottle. The wine shone deep coral. It smelled and tasted faintly raspberries and apricots. And an attractive little spritz tickled my palate. That gentle effervescence combined with mouth-watering acidity offset the kiss of sweetness, so the wine tasted light and refreshing. Compared to Baby Duck, Mateus wasn’t bad at all — but certainly not as complex, elegant or long as the many better rosés now on the market. And the colour was a bit bold for my taste. So again, not a wine I’d recommend.
Next I poured Blue Nun — the white from Germany (LCBO 729 $9.95/750 mL) that launched in 1921. This strawcoloured white tasted cloyingly sweet, dilute and vaguely of pear-flavoured hard candy — a bit too much like drinking alcoholic sugar water for my liking.
Moving right along, I sampled the 2018 Moselland Riesling from Germany (LCBO 561662 $11.95/500 mL). This is the wine that comes in a catshaped bottle — or more precisely, a bottle shaped like a cat being sucked through a drinking straw.
The wine was surprisingly decent. It sort of tasted like the vinous equivalent of those fruit jellies called pa et de fruits from France — in lemon flavour. Each sip struck the right balance of sweet and sour, which was refreshing. The wine wasn’t complex by any stretch. Nor was it elegant and refined tasting. So I won’t be buying a bottle any time soon. But the wine is technically correct and would no doubt suit fans of simple, medium-sweet Rieslings — especially those with a penchant for cats. And kitschy kitty paraphernalia.
Less gimmicky but equally recognizable is the 3000 mL glass jug of NV Carlo Rossi California Red (LCBO 280644 $27.90). This wine has been around a long time too, but tasting it was heartening. And if you’ve read to this point, here’s the payoff.
Carlo Rossi California Red offers terrific value for money. Each sip was clean and juicy. The ample berry fruit tasted sunlit and pure with a dusting of cocoa powder — so a bit of complexity going on. And the wine was dry but not bone dry, showing just enough sweetness to polish to the edges. At the equivalent of about $7 per 750 ml, Carlo Rossi California Red actually delivers outstanding value for money. This old standby stands up better than the rest. Here’s to that.
Carolyn Evans Hammond is a Toronto-based wine writer and a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Reach her via email: carolyn@carolynevanshammond.com