Wine Festival

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As we walk down the street, there are people everywhere setting up chairs, benches and even a couch, on the curb. The farther we walked, the more people were making themselves at home on the curb. Why was I getting the sinking suspicion that we were in the middle of a parade route? Because we were. Fortunately for us (and the onlookers), it hadn’t started yet.


In their annual wine festival, Neustadt, Germany has a parade of 150 floats in a 2-hour parade. These elaborate, yet organic looking floats, are pulled by old tractors, horses, or the occasional donkey, as they are paraded through the cobble stone streets. Most of the floats represent a particular vineyard in Rhineland-Palatinate. Helping to promote their wine, was a wine princess, waving to the crowd and offering autographs to the young kids. (It felt a little as though a German Taylor Swift were parading through the town).


As we continue our walk down the middle of the street, we look for a place to call our own. Mingling in between the locals, we find ourselves with a group of German speaking hecklers to our right - - with wine glasses in hand and arms outstretched in hopes of having their wine glass filled. To my left, is a man enjoying a bratwurst in as little as two bites with a slug of wine in between. (Oh wait, that was Jeremy)


Mixed in the parade route, were a few charity organizations, bakers, and cigar makers. The men and women on the cigar float would roll fresh cigars and toss them out to the crowd. However, the most popular ritual was the sharing of wine. Famous for their Rieslings, much a of this sweet wine was poured (and spilt) as onlookers ran up to the floats to have their empty glasses filled with a taste. Although they only received an inch or so, their child-like, excited faces were priceless, as they turned back to the crowd.


Neustadt an der Wienstrasse, is a pleasant market town located along the central Germany wine road, surrounded by small wine villages as well as castles, forests and carpets of vineyards. We hope to visit more villages like this in the future and attend more wine festivals. But this time, we’ll remember to stay out of the parade route.


We hope you enjoy the pictures almost as much as we enjoyed the day.

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Photos

Lining Up...
(is that a ladder they are sitting on?)

I need a refill!
A common occurance...a parade observer running to catch the wine barrel for a refill.

Rolling Cigars
On this float, they were rolling fresh cigars and handing them out to the crowd

Now THAT is a glass of wine
...and yes, he was driving the tractor.

Real Vines!
Kids were handing out real bunces of grapes straight from the vines

Comments

[dad]

WOW
Tell me when the beer parade is scheduled.

[Steve]

Brenna - Wine Princess
May be you have a future as a Wine Princess. Linda and I are still trying to process cigars thrown to the crowd.

[Linda]

charming....
Great photos, Brenna!!! The half-timbered houses are so charming. I've been at parades where they tossed candy... but cigars?! Ok... which one of you tried one? I am itching to take pictures of your new surroundings. :-)

[Anna]

Memories
My dad had a wine press much like this one! He used to make elderberry wine. Those Germans do like their sweet Wein (Dad's last name was Estadt). Hey Brenna, I like the way you started calling these little towns 'villages' now. Keep the pictures coming! Cheers Anna