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Harvest time in Germany is also wine fest time. One of the highlights of the wine fest season is the annual German Wine Harvest Fest being celebrated in Neustadt along the German Wine Street today through Oct. 11.
The German Wine Harvest Fest is considered the vintners’ Thanksgiving. For more than 50 years, regional vintners celebrate the event after finishing their work in the vineyards and wine cellars for that season. They now welcome the new season with new wines.
The traditional fest usually features the little reconstructed wine village set up in front of the train station, the crowning of the Palatinate Wine Queen, the election of the German Wine Queen, a public wine tasting, Germany’s biggest vintners’ fest parade and a carnival.
The wine village is made of little framework houses called “Haiselscher,” a Palatinate dialect meaning little houses, and booths, where local wines and food specialties are sold.
A typical season specialty offered is “Zwiebelkuchen,” or onion cake. It is similar to Quiche Lorraine and customarily it is served with “Federweisser,” the first new wine for that year. Federweisser has a cloudy color and tastes more like grape juice than wine, containing less alcohol. It is still fermenting and after a few weeks loses its sweetness.
Next to the Haiselscher, radio station RPR. 1 will entertain the audience from their stage. Here, the Palatinate Wine Queen, Gabi Klein, will officially open the fest at 6 p.m. today and present the six candidates for the election of the 72nd Palatinate Wine Queen. Live music with Fisherman’s Friends and Die Habachtaler will follow. Each day, different bands and singers will present different music styles.
A carnival with rides and a fest tent is located near the wine village.
Family Day with reduced prices is scheduled for Wednesday.
Neustadt’s Hetzelplatz will turn into a giant wine probe location at 7 p.m. Thursday. The “German Wine and Champagne Meeting Point” made of little pavilions lures visitors who want to sample wines from the nine wine villages belonging to Neustadt and from the other 13 wine-growing regions in Germany through Oct. 11.
The highlight of the wine harvest fest will be the 101st vintners’ parade with more than 100 floats, bands, walking groups, costume groups and the Palatinate and German wine queens at 2 p.m. Oct. 10. City officials expect more than 100,00 visitors.
The fest will close out with a fireworks display at 9:30 p.m. Oct. 11.
For more information, visit www.neustadt.pfalz.com.
The German railroad company, Deutsche Bahn, offers trains going from Kaiserslautern to Neustadt and back every half hour. The Ticket 24 for individuals is €9, and the Ticket 24+ for groups of two to five people costs €14.50. Both tickets are available at the ticket machines in the train station.
