Freiburg (dpa/lsw) - In view of the energy crisis and price increases, the new German wine queen Katrin Lang wants to network winegrowers more closely. "I would like the industry to move even closer together beyond the individual growing areas," said the winemaker and oenologist on Wednesday in Freiburg at an event organized by the Baden Winegrowers' Association. As a result of the Russia-Ukraine war, winegrowers have to spend significantly more on energy, fertilizer and glass bottles, as the association reported.
Lang was elected the 74th German Wine Queen at the beginning of October. The 23-year-old from Ebringen in southern Baden (Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district) represents around 15,000 German winegrowers. There are 13 wine-growing regions in Germany.
"The office of the German Wine Queen is changing," Lang told the German Press Agency. The wine sovereigns - including the wine princesses Juliane Schäfer and Luise Böhme - are far more than mere representatives: "Our expertise in viticulture is at a high level," she said.
"You have to fill this office with life. It could be an opportunity to further open up the image of the wine queen and to move on to an ambassador," added Lang. On the Middle Rhine, the next regional wine sovereignty will be elected on Friday - for the first time there is a male candidate.
Lang said that the traditional crown of the wine queen is a sign of recognition - she doesn't want to do without it. "One or the other looks at you funny, why you appear there with a crown, because you only know it from royal houses." It is good that a woman is at the helm of a male-dominated industry. "I'm a trained winemaker, I have the same expertise as a cellar master," she said.
