Sabrina I (Schuchard) is Bocholt's new wine queen

At the 27th edition - this time with rather mixed weather - the people of Bocholt and their guests, as well as us from City Marketing and the winegrowers, are once again having a lot of fun experiencing and organising the wine festival in Bocholt. "37 degrees like a fortnight ago would not have been so good, you can't always have dream weather like 2022 - and we were actually lucky with the mostly dry Friday and Saturday," sums up City Marketing Managing Director Ludger Dieckhues. "Rain and wind at noon on Sunday hurt, of course - on the other hand, we desperately need it overall!" That was also the general tenor despite the initially bad weather on Sunday at St. George's Square and for the vintners from the Palatinate: everyone is always delighted and motivated to come to Bocholt! "The people on the square, i.e. the guests, had a lot of fun especially on Friday and Saturday, it is a highlight for us during the holidays in Bocholt, where people meet and chat about what they have experienced or what is coming up," said Ludger Dieckhues from the city marketing once again. "It's a festival where people have a great time and this year there was again a lot of wine drunk in a great atmosphere, especially on Friday and Saturday evening.

On Friday evening, despite the wind and clouds, the square filled up very quickly and a relaxed, almost Mediterranean atmosphere prevailed when the sun came out. At the opening at 5 p.m. by Mayor Thomas Kerkhoff, Wine Queen Laura I and City Marketing Director Ludger Dieckhues, all the tables and bar tables were already occupied and numerous guests of honour gathered in front of the stage. Only the microphone was not so kind to the mayor and the city marketing director: it frequently stopped working, and even new batteries did not help. Traditionally, the Sporker Musikanten played on this day and an enthusiastic (regular) audience was on hand. There were wine-fuelled celebrations, dancing and singing. Wines were tasted, even the older audience enjoyed themselves with conversations, a tarte flambée, a snack and a glass of wine or two. Later, it was really crowded on St. George's Square: bar tables, counter seats, chairs, benches on and around the fountain were filled. A novelty in contrast to last year: the wine bar Arigato by Lars Kathage and Fabian Kracht had opened at St.-Georg-Platz and was well attended. "A nice synergy of event and local gastronomy," found city marketing boss Ludger Dieckhues. "Hopefully Lars Kathage and the house owner will find a permanent concept for an experience gastronomy at St.-Georg-Platz."

A real wine party was then celebrated on Saturday evening: already in the afternoon, St.-Georg-Platz was a continuous destination for wine lovers and visitors to the city centre, despite windy and cloudy weather. And already after the evening mass in St.-Georg, the square was so full that visitors scrambled for tables and bar tables, gathered in groups and enjoyed the evening in a wine-loving mood. Even the cooler temperatures and the intermittent rain did not dampen the mood. Young and old mingled in a colourful way, it was almost impossible to get through. "It's great how the people of Bocholt celebrate," said winegrower Marc Nickel from Neustadt-Hambach. The wine flowed in streams, the winegrowers gave their best - once again a wine-blissful Saturday evening on St.-Georg-Platz in Bocholt - the wine festival as a holiday meeting place in the middle of the city! And thanks to the band McKing, the wine festival also turned into a real wine party at a late hour! - "People enjoy the wine, the atmosphere is great - if it hadn't rained in between, we would have been sold out already on Saturday night - unbelievable!" said winegrower Gerd Pfaffmann from Impflingen. Around 1.00 a.m., the vintners and city marketing started the big clean-up, because the place had to be cleaned up again for the first Sunday mass in St.-Georg.

OnSunday, wind and drizzle initially put a spanner in the winemakers' works. The festival began at 12 noon: after the end of the last Sunday Mass in St. George, the parish had distributed wine vouchers for the church visitors. And they were not deterred by the wind. However, the wind and intermittent drizzle meant that attendance at the wine festival on Sunday lunchtime was rather restrained - it was simply not possible to drink wine comfortably: too windy, too cold - uncomfortable. Many people from Bocholt came by car, know their winegrowers by now, talk shop, pick up their wine. The Janis Socker Duo entertained the guests musically on Sunday - despite the wind, the musicians gave their best.