Palatinate wine sovereigns "made by Wine Campus"
We would like to congratulate our Wine Campus student Sophia Hanke, who was elected Palatinate Wine Queen on October 1, at Saalbau . And there is even more to celebrate at the Wine Campus: her fellow student Sabina Kobek was also awarded a crown on the same evening. She was crowned Palatinate Wine Princess. We wish them both a wonderful year in office!
About Sophia Hanke
The fact that she won still seemed unreal to Sophia Hanke the next day. "We are all three winners," she said, looking at her rivals Sabina Kobek (22) from Neustadt and Laura Wessa (27) from Bockenheim, who will now be at her side for a year as Palatinate Wine Princesses. The trio got on very well before the election - and that's how it should stay, say all three sovereigns.
65 fans, almost all of whom had come by bus, cheered on and supported the candidate to succeed Saskia Teucke from Weisenheim am Sand during the one-and-a-half-hour online broadcast. "I was able to see every single person in the audience, which was great," said the overjoyed winner after the election . Grandpa Wilfried Hanke was also part of the delegation in the Saalbau and was lifted onto the stage in a wheelchair after his granddaughter was crowned: As the people of Rödersheim celebrated laughing and singing, he couldn't miss out. "Now I have a queen in my family," declared the senior proud and touched at the same time.
The stage doesn't scare Sophia Hanke, quite the opposite. "She stood up as a child and sang Abba. She can do that. She's always been able to do it. She likes being around people," reported her mother. Elke Hanke was overwhelmed by the evening in the Saalbau. "I was nervous, I was much more excited than Sophia," said her mother, who was given a new nickname that evening. She is now the "Queen-Mum". She had initially wondered about her daughter's application, who has almost completed the dual Bachelor's degree course in Viticulture and Enology at the Wine Campus Neustadt . "I always thought you had to have a winery," said Elke Hanke. But of course that is not a prerequisite for studying at the Wine Campus. Sophia Hanke almost has her degree in the bag, even without a winery in the family. She has submitted her bachelor's thesis to , with a colloquium still to come, and then the winemaker will be finished with her studies, during which she has worked or is working at the Fitz-Ritter winery (Bad Dürkheim) and the Ökonomierat Rebholz winery (Siebeldingen). She developed a social media concept for the VDP-Pfalz in her bachelor's thesis. "There are various strategies for approaching something like this. The goals are crucial," said the 25-year-old. The internet has become extremely important in the coronavirus era.
But knowing where you come from is even more important. Sophia Hanke remembers her childhood well, playing in the rows of vines in her great-grandfather's garden. Even though Rödersheim-Gronau has no winegrowers in the village, wine still grows there. Elke Hanke used to help tread grapes as a child. When she was little, her grandfather still made wine himself.
Curriculum vitae
Age: 25 years
Place of residence: Rödersheim-Gronau
School education: general higher education entrance qualification (Abitur) in 2015 at Paul-von-Denis Gymnasium in Schifferstadt
Vocational training: Dual Bachelor's degree course in viticulture & Enology, Wine Campus Neustadt, graduation in fall 2021 (completion of Bachelor's thesis)
July 2021 successfully completed winemaker training (in conjunction with the dual course of study)
Training companies: 2017 - 2020 Weingut Fitz-Ritter in Bad Dürkheim
Since 2021 Weingut Ökonomierat Rebholz in Siebeldingen
Semester abroad in fall 2020 at Schug Caneros Estate in California postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Honorary position: Board member of MGV Frohsinn Rödersheim, committed member of the Catholic music association Hochdorf
Voluntary activities in the Catholic parish of St. Leo Rödersheim
Hobbies: Singing in the mixed choir "Voices" and in the women's choir of MGV Frohsinn Rödersheim, playing the flute in the Catholic Hochdorf Music Association, cooking and baking, traveling
More information can also be found at: www.pfaelzische-weinkoenigin.de
