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The wine harvest fest in Neustadt features rides and a wine village set up near the train station. The fest runs today through Oct. 9. — Courtesy photos
Neustadt/German Wine Street will celebrate its annual German Wine Harvest Fest through Oct. 9.
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 wine village made of little framework houses called “Haiselscher,” set up in front of the train station, opened a week ago. A typical season specialty offered is “Zwiebelkuchen,” onion cake. It is similar to Quiche Lorraine and customarily 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.
Today, the carnival with rides and vendors will start and the crowning of the German Wine Queen will take place.
Local stores will open for special shopping 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday. Local car dealers will present their latest vehicles in the center of town.
Neustadt’s Hetzelplatz will turn into a giant wine tasting location today to Oct. 9. Visitors can sample wines from the nine wine villages belonging to Neustadt, the other 13 wine-growing regions in Germany and from partner regions in Eruope in a mirror palace and a Mediterranean garden.
Highlight of the wine harvest fest will be Germany’s biggest vintners’ parade with more than 100 floats, bands, walking groups, costume groups and the Palatinate and German wine queens at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 8. City officials expect more than 100,00 visitors.
The fest will close out with a fireworks display at 9:30 p.m. Oct. 9.
For more information, visit www.neustadt.eu.
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 persons costs €14.50. Both tickets are available at the ticket machines in the train station.
