Discover Germany | Wine & Dine | Germany’s Wine Queens
The German Wine Queen – rule, and pour generously Germany may not have its own royal family, but once a year it crowns a Wine Queen in a tradition that dates back to the 1930s. For many years, wine queens were seen as the epitome of the beautiful, traditional German girl in a dirndl; but times have changed. TEXT: WIBKE CARTER | PHOTOS: DEUTSCHES WEININSTITUT
”I need a drink”, were the first words the new German Wine Queen, Lena Endesfelder, spoke into the microphone immediately after her coronation, to the amusement of the audience. However, there is not a great deal of time for her to enjoy a glass or two. Until September 2017, when her successor is crowned, the reigning German Wine Queen acts, supported by two wine princesses, as an ambassador for Germany´s wines at over 200 engagements domestically and abroad in countries as far as Canada or Japan. 34 | Issue 49 | April 2017
Crowning a wine queen started in the 1930s, when wine consumption was low in Germany with only three litres per capita and wine festivals, though popular up and down the country, lacked a certain sparkle. Thus, a group of men from the Palatine wine region, led by publisher Daniel Meininger, came up with the idea of having a queen; what would be considered a PR stunt today. In 1931, the first five contestants entered the competition, held during the annual fair in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, and Ruth Bachrodt, vot-
Main image: Oestrich-Winkel Schloss Vollrads - winegrowing district Rheingau. Photo: © DZT From top left: Coronation of Lena Endesfelder. Rheingau wine region – Eberbach Abbey, wine barrels. Rüdesheim Drosselgasse. Photo: © Rüdesheim Tourist AG Former German Wine Queen Janina Huhn (2014 - 2015). Group picture: German Wine Queen candidates 2016.
ed the prettiest girl, was elected. Ironically, the first wine queen came from Pirmasens where, in fact, no wine is produced. Over the following years, subsequent wine queens were crowned until in 1949 with the involvement of the German Wine Institute (Deutsches Weininstitut). The competition became institutionalised and Elisabeth Kuhn was officially nominated as the German Wine Queen. Early on, the selection process resembled that of a beauty pageant with wine queens embodying the traditional image of the pretty and virtuous maiden in traditional costume. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote in 1950, they were “true daughters of the vineyards, they were of powerful build, healthy and wholesome”. Their assessment included dancing the waltz, giving