Former CIA spy boss Peter Sichel tells of 'lonely' job that 'leads to alcoholism'

Former CIA spy boss Peter Sichel tells of 'lonely' job that 'leads to alcoholism'New film The Last Spy tells the incredible tale of Peter Sichel who changed the world not once but twice, escaping from the Nazis to become a wine merchant and master spyCommentsNewsHannah Britt, Senior Reporter Mirror Features06:30, 21 Apr 2026View 6 ImagesPeter Sichel, who was the head of the OSS/CIA in the cold war and then went on build the Blue Nun wine empire(Image: Supplied)Few people could legitimately subtitle their life story “vintner, prisoner, soldier, spy”. But when he died a year ago, aged 102, Peter Sichel had been all these things. Now his extraordinary life – in which he fled the Nazis, joined the army, spied for the CIA and made Blue Nun’s Liebfraumilch with its distinctive bottle a household name in the 1970s and 80s – has been made into a cinema film, The Last Spy.‌His wine merchant daughter Bettina says: “He was definitely good at keeping secrets and he was also good at getting people to talk. He had a very charming way about him.” The Last Spy, made by German-US filmmaker and producer Katharina Otto-Bernstein, and told in Peter’s own words, premiered at the UK Jewish Film Festival last November and is launching in selected cinemas on Friday.‌READ MORE: Trainspotting's Irvine Welsh tells of 'brutal' drug-fuelled murders that inspired hit filmGrowing up in a wealthy family in Mainz, Germany, Peter’s grandfather owned the H. Sichel Söhne winery – establishing branches in Bordeaux, France; London, and New York. Peter, who attended Stowe, the same public school in Buckinghamshire as Sir Richard Branson and actors David Niven and Henry Cavill, said: “We were one of the families in Mainz everybody knew.”‌View 6 ImagesPeter Sichel, executive of the Blue Nun Wine Firm, Germany, is pictured in 1980(Image: Fairfax Media via Getty Images)But when the Nazis took power in Germany in 1935, Jews were stripped of their civil rights, and Peter fled...