German Wine Princess Sabine Wagner and I met for the first time at the October tasting of the Weinfreundeskreis Hochheim. As a member of the Weinfreundeskreis Hochheim since it was founded more than 30 years ago, I always try to come to the monthly events, when I am in the Frankfurt am Main area. Sabine Wagner had just been chosen as one of the two German wine princesses who will support the 65th German Wine Queen, Nadine Poss from the Nahe wine region, over the course of her 12 months reign. By attending the event, she wanted to express her gratitude to the Weinfreundeskreis Hochheim for actively campaigning for her. By chance, we were sitting next to each other at the event, but did not have a lot of time to talk to each other. However, there was enough time to agree on a date where we could talk more about my suggestion to come over to Washington DC for a number events to promote German wine.
A Date at Weinhaus Bluhm
We met at Weinhaus Bluhm in Mainz, my favorite wine tavern in Mainz. Mainz in the wine region Rheinhessen in Germany is, along with Bilbao in Spain, Bordeaux in France, Cape Town in South Africa, Christchurch in New Zealand, Firenza in Italy, Mendoza in Argentina, Porto in Portugal and San Francisco in the US, one of the 9 wine capitals in the world. But there is not a single wine bar in Mainz, as I know them from London, New York City, Berlin or Washington DC. However, there are a large number of wine taverns in Mainz. Typically, wine taverns do not have an elaborated list of wines, nor do they serve fancy and sophisticated food. They serve local wines, at very reasonable prices, typically from a handful of local winemakers that you do not find in the wine guides such as the Gault Millau. There is one exception: Weinhaus Bluhm.
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Starting with the setting and atmosphere, Weinhaus Bluhm is a dark, a bit smoky, very basic tavern. It looks today the same as it looked when I first set foot into the Weinhaus Bluhm as a student of macro-economics at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. The furniture is functional, used, a bit worn down. Weinhaus Bluhm offers a feeling of well-being and it has a lot of charm. In the summer, you can sit on the cobble stone road outside the tavern on communal benches. It cannot get better. The food at Weinhaus Bluhm is simple and good. It does not reach out for some sophistication, as some of the other wine taverns do. It stays at the more basic range, but at the highest quality level.
When it comes to the wines, however, Weinhaus Bluhm really stands out. It is a class of itself. Nowhere else in a wine tavern in Mainz, you can get wines of German wine stars like Weingut Klaus Peter Keller or Weingut Kruger Rumpf or Weingut Teschke. Owner and Host (“Wirt”) Manager Roland Ladendorf is a wine aficionado and extremely knowledgeable about the wine scene. And what is most important, you can get a fair number of his world class wines by the glass.
I had a delicious Spundekaes – a regional cheese speciality - and a few glasses of wine, all selected by Roland Ladendorf. My wife Annette had a Fleischwurst. And Sabine had a Handkaes.
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Becoming a Wine Queen and Wine Princess
Sabine explained to me a bit how it works and how she moved up so quickly. The German Wine Queen (German: Deutsche Weinkönigin) is the representative of the German wine industry. She is elected for a period of one year. In 1931, the first German wine region, the Pfalz, crowned its own wine queen. Because the Palatine Wine Queen was Germany's only wine queen, she automatically represented the German wine industry in general as well as the Palatine wine region until 1939, and then again, from 1947 until 1949.
Since 1950, the German Wine Queen has been elected in a separate competition. Each year, every German wine region selects its regional wine queen. From these regional wine queens, the German Wine Queen is chosen the following year. Until 1999, it was a condition that the candidates had to be single - they could be neither married nor divorced - and had to come from a family of winemakers. Since 2000, the candidates who apply have only had to have "clear and strong ties with German wines."
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Selection is no longer based so much on good looks and dancing skills today; more important, in addition to a knowledge of oenology and winemaking technology, quick wit and eloquence are required as well as proficiency in foreign languages and a knowledge of the export business.
In the first round, the regional wine queens faced a rigorous oral examination with questions about viticultural and winemaking techniques, as well as wine labelling, packaging and marketing, from a panel of 80 judges. Six candidates go to the second and final round, a televised "gala" attended by 1,300 guests and watched by more than a million viewers, where the 18- to 25-year-olds have to demonstrate they can field questions on wine-making spontaneously.
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During their one-year term of office, the Wine Queen and Wine Princesses advertise German wine at trade fairs, wine festivals and other events. Wine Queen competition is arranged by the German Wine Institute (DWI) in Mainz.
Wine Princess Sabine Wagner
Sabine Wagner was born and grew up in Hochheim, the famous wine village in the eastern part of the Rheingau. Unusually, her parents are not winemakers. Often, wine queens and wine princess came from a winemaking family. In 2009, Sabine was elected Wine Princess of Hochheim. She stayed in that function for 2 years before being elected Wine Queen of Hochheim in 2011. In 2012, Sabine became a candidate for the regional wine queen, the Rheingau wine queen, and was elected. She told me that she was a bit of an underdog in the election but won the contest.
In 2013, Sabine went with 12 other regional wine queens through the challenging selection process for the national wine queen. She did not make it to the very top, but came out of the selection, with her colleague from Rheinhessen, as wine princess. Nadine Poss from the Nahe wine region was crowned the 65th German Wine Queen. She will be supported in her role by wine princesses Sabine Wagner from the Rheingau and Ramona Diegel from Rheinhessen.
Sabine studies International Wine Business at the Geisenheim University in the Rheingau. She is in her 5th semester and will have a one year break.
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