QUEEN OF THRONES

Program 2022

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Sheila Wolf

Battle for the sash of the Berlin Wine Queen

In 1950, the Süddeutsche Zeitung still described the candidates for the election of the wine queen as “real daughters of the vineyards, of sturdy build, exceedingly healthy and apple-cheeked”. Later, the standards changed, and older gentlemen tended to select young girls with more traditional ideals of beauty. Again and again, attempts were made to counteract the inherently chauvinistic aspirations of the election itself and to give the elections for wine princesses and wine queens a modern touch. Whether the qualities “modern” and “wine queen” really belong together is something everyone may determine for themselves. If not modern, then glamorous at least! How do you imagine a real Berlin wine queen? Definitely not apple-cheeked and healthy. No daughters of the vineyards, but queens of the night. Real vamps, real bitches, real bangers and above all: real drags.

4 candidates will face a jury this evening and they will perform for the bet, talk their heads off and they will fight for the crown. The games are on!

The evening will be hosted and curated by your host, Sheila Wolf. Don’t think she is a wolf disguised as a sheep though. In fact, she intends to kill the wolf herself to wear it as a fur collar. Sheila Wolf is the founder and producer of the Vaudeville Variety Burlesque Revue, Berlin’s largest cabaret theater. She also founded and organizes the Berlin Boylesque Drag Festival and the burlesque late-night show Hotel Gl’Amouresque, both are consistently sold out. A new TV format called “Diva in me” is also available on TVNOW. Her partnership with eat! berlin is a dream come true for our curator and festival director. He has been fighting for this event format for over 6 years.

From Wolf to Wulf. More specifically, to celebrity chef Alexander Wulf. He is the world’s only star chef with Russian roots. In 2021, he fulfilled a lifelong dream with the Troyka restaurant in Erkelenz (near Mönchengladbach). After all, we are choosing Berlin’s wine queen and awarding a crown. There is probably no better-fitting chef than Franz Berlin of the Hotel Krone Lamm in Bad Teinach-Zavelstein, west of Stuttgart. He too has been awarded a star and should you be planning your next vacation in Germany, we really recommend this hotel. Gourmets seeking relaxation, in particular, and people seeking relaxation in general, visit this place frequently. Who is to say that he leaves Berlin to return to Berlin?

The wines are provided by winemaker and former wine princess Simona Maier. The birth name of the master winemaker is actually Simon Maier. It’s often foolish to put white wines in a red wine glass. Things are a bit more complicated when women are born in male bodies. It is especially difficult to imagine what it was like for young Simon back then to grow up in a conservative agricultural environment as a girl trapped in a boy’s body. Today Simona is where she belongs, and on this evening, she belongs in the Master Hall. She will be present as a winemaker and as one of the jurors for the election of the Berlin Wine Queen.