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Neustadt, along the German Wine Street, celebrates the highlight of the German wine fest season with its annual wine harvest fest, which started Tuesday and continues through Oct. 15.
***image1***The German Wine Harvest Fest is considered the vintners’ Thanksgiving. For more than 50 years, regional vintners have celebrated the event after they finished their work in the vineyards and wine cellars. They also welcome the new season with new wines.
The German Wine Queen, Katja Schweder, who is from the Pfalz, will finish her reign and a new GermanWine Queen will be elected. Thirteeen candidates from the 13 different wine-growing regions will be presented 2 p.m. Saturday at the Saalbau building (next to train station). The final decision will be made in a live show with television station SWR 7:30 p.m. Oct. 12.
The wine harvest fest in Neustadt is well-known for the little reconstructed wine village set up across from the train station. It is made of little framework houses called “Haiselscher,” (Palatinate dialect meaning little houses) and booths, where local wines and food specialties are sold.
A typical seasonal specialty offered is “Zwiebelkuchen,” 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 there is a stage where live music performances take place. The party band Boppin B performs 7:30 p.m. today and MEGA-Band is on stage 7:30 to 11 p.m. Saturday. Sunday, stores in Neustadt are open from 1 to 6 p.m.
***image2***A carnival with rides and a fest tent is set up near the wine village. Wednesday is family day with reduced prices for rides.
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 of Neustadt and from all other wine-growing regions in Germany.
Another highlight of the wine harvest fest is the vintners’ parade with decorated floats, bands, walking groups, costume groups and the Palatinate and German wine queens at 2 p.m. Oct. 14.
The fest will close out with a fireworks display at 9:30 p.m. Oct. 15.
The German railroad company, Deutsche Bahn, offers trains going from Kaiserslautern to Neustadt every half hour, at minutes 28 and 58, for example, 9:28 a.m. or 9:58 a.m., etc. Trains taking visitors from Neustadt back to Kaiserslautern leave at minutes 32 and 02. The Deutsche Bahn offers the Rheinland-Pfalz Ticket for €25 for up to five persons (available at the ticket machine), Ticket 24 for one person (€5 to €13 depending on the distance), and Ticket 24 Plus for groups of up to five people (€8 to €18.50 depending on the distance). For more information, visit www.neustadt.pfalz.com.
