News & Events
A crown for Rheinhessen: Annika Strebel is the 63rd German Wine Queen
DWI
The new Wine Queen was simply overwhelmed. "I just can't believe it," said Annika Strebel. The 23-year-old student of viticulture from the village of Wintersheim in Rheinhessen is the 63rd German Wine Queen. She is the first German Wine Queen to hail from the largest German wine growing region since 1999.
Last Friday night, in Neustadt an der Weinstraße, the 80-head-strong jury from politics, media and business elected the young woman from Rheinhessen as the highest representative of German wine. Ramona Sturm from the Mosel and Elisabeth Born from the Saale-Unstrut growing region will support Annika Strebel as German Wine Princesses.
"This is a great day for Rheinland-Pfalz wine," Annika Strebel said after her election. From her early childhood the 23-year-old knew that she wanted to become a vintner. She is currently studying viticulture at the renownedViticultural Institute Geisenheim.
Annika likes to collect wild herbs for the kitchen and grows her own pumpkins. She will not have a lot of time for this during next year as there are about 200 appointments at home and abroad for her to represent the German wine industry.
She has two wine princesses who support her in her role. 22-year-old Ramona Sturm comes from Moselkern and is studying mathematics and economics to become a teacher. The daughter of a part-time vintner, she excelled in the qualifying round with an explanation about why 2011 will turn out to be such a good vintage, and which terms are especially important on wine labels. In the final round she was convincing in her campaign speech with her passion and enthusiasm for German wine which she plans to spread around the world.
Twenty-six year-old Elisabeth Born enchanted the jury with her natural charm. The graduate vintner works in her parents winery in Höhnstedt. Her grandfather gave Elisabeth her own vineyard where, quite innovatively, she cultivates Sauvignon Blanc. She also gained wine experience in New Zealand and South Africa. This combination of charm and knowledge makes Elisabeth a perfect German wine princess.
In actual fact, it was as difficult as ever before for the jury to come to a decision: in the Neustadt Saalbau, six young women had to subject themselves to the critical eyes of the jury and of a television audience of several million.
The six finalists were chosen a week before in the qualifying round in Neustadt. Every year the regional wine queens of the thirteen German wine-growing areas stand for election of the German Wine Queen. The women, aged between 21 and 26, had to demonstrate extensive specialised knowledge on viticulture and wine marketing. Here, Annika Strebel could prove that she can explain difficult technical terms such as Blanc de Noir comprehensively and expertly.
Friday night at the final, the likeable blond with the long ponytail shone mainly with her charm, her spontaneity and her naturalness. When detecting aromas of a 2007 Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese, Annika was convincing with her knowledge: she chose honey, ripe peach and pineapple, and got it exactly right. When acting out technical wine terms on an open stage, she provoked waves of enthusiasm from the audience: they were enraptured by her convincing representation of a crown cork and especially that of the pheromones of the grape berry moth.
"I look a bit like the Loreley," Annika Strebel finally said in her ficticious application speech in front of delegates from the Mittelrhein. But she "won't tell fairy tales or sink ships but promote German wine with charm and passion." And when she concluded by saying "Elect me as your German Wine Queen tonight," the jury could only agree.
At 10:05 pm, Monika Reule, managing director of the DWI, announced the results to the tension filled audience: the 63rd German Wine Queen is Annika Strebel. The new wine majesty is the eighth German Wine Queen from Rheinhessen.