Charlotte Weihl is the new German Wine Queen

As German Wine Princesses, Julia Lambrich from the wine region Mittelrhein and Katharina Gräff from the Nahe complete the new royal trio.

"It is an indescribable feeling, a mixture of gratitude and overwhelming satisfaction", said the newly crowned wine majesty, visibly moved, immediately after her election. „I am most looking forward to experiencing the coming time with the other two wine sovereigns", explained the student of International Wine Business. This is the 11th time that the Pfälzer has brought the crown of the highest German wine majesty to the second-largest wine-growing region.

The public votes

There was an initial storm of cheers in the Neustadt Saalbau when DWI Marketing Director Steffen Schindler announced the vote of the 70-strong jury as to which three of the five finalists would definitely wear a German wine crown. Afterwards, the new trio had another opportunity to convince the jury and, above all, the audience in a joint game round as well as through personal speeches . In the end, the viewers in the hall and at home in front of their screens online decided who should be the 76th German Wine Queen.

Moving crowning ceremony

Tense silence prevailed on the stage and in the hall when Steffen Schindler announced the result of the public vote: "Charotte Weihl is the new German Wine Queen." The two German Wine Princesses, who were also crowned, greeted the visibly moved new German Wine Queen with a warm embrace.

Under the cheering applause of the 700-strong audience, Charlotte Weihl and the two wine princesses were crowned by their predecessors. We had not just three, not just five, we had twelve great candidates," emphasised Steffen Schindler. With the newly elected Majestäten trio, three extremely knowledgeable and confident representatives will competently represent the local wines worldwide, said the DWI Marketing Director.

As the 76th German Wine Majesties, Charlotte Weihl, Julia Lambrich and Katharina Gräff are travelling for a year on behalf of the German Wine Institute (DWI) to around 200 events in Germany and at international wine fairs to convince both experts and consumers of the advantages of wines from German regions.

Strong performance

Whether individually or as a team– each of the three final candidates shone on this evening with ingenuity, quick-wittedness and a pronounced presence of mind in the refreshingly entertaining tasks that had to be mastered in the grand finale.

For example, in a covert tasting, the participants had to describe a wine with apt characteristics and then correctly assign the growing region. In the rhetoric game, the young experts showed that they can master even complicated challenges with rhetorical skill. The group proved their strength as a team when solving tricky tasks in an escape room game in which the aim was to find a bottle of wine for the future Wine Queen. SWR presenter Holger Wienpahl provided the candidates with his usual motivational support during all of their appearances.

Musical and cabaret show acts

The entertaining election evening was enriched by the show acts Iggy Kelly  Florian Künstler and Aura Diaone. Singer-songwriter and cabaret artist Sven Garrecht presented his „Wein-Wissen-Musikalisch“ to enthusiastic applause from the audience in the hall. This year, the audience was actively involved in the programme throughout the show via games and digital voting options.

Farewell to the previous trio and donation handover

As part of their farewell ceremony, the 75th German Wine majesties Eva Brockmann, Lea Baßler and Jessica Himmelsbach ceremoniously presented a donation of €2,750 to the non-profit organisation „Wine Saves Life e.V.“ The donation came from the auction of pleasure packages from all 13 wine regions as well as donations that the wine sovereigns were able to generate as patrons of the organisation during their term of office. One hundred per cent of the proceeds will go to children's aid projects that Wine Saves Life supports around the world.