Wine King Levin McKenzie
Levin McKenzie is making history, specifically wine history. The business school student is the first Wine King of a German wine-growing region. In the election for the Majesty of Rhine-Hessian wine on September 14 in Ingelheim, Levin impressed the panel of judges with his extensive wine knowledge, completing challenging tests and interviews in English. The 25-year-old prevailed over his two competitors, Katja Klemmer and Laura Schlösser, and will represent Germany’s largest wine-growing region from this year onwards. His duties as Wine King are many and varied: He oversees wine tastings, appears at trade shows, and travels around Germany and the world. And the fifth-semester student is already looking forward to it: “I’ll probably have to work more at juggling my duties and my studies, but I’ll be fine.”
Wine is Levin’s great passion, and he is particularly fond of Burgundy. But like any good wine, his enthusiasm for winemaking also had to mature first. He originally wanted to become an architect, but a temporary job at a winery sparked his love for winemaking. Levin, who does not come from a family of vintners, next completed an apprenticeship as a trained vintner. “I basically switched careers,” says the Wackernheim native. In his view, studying business administration was a logical addition to his career in order to be “much more broadly positioned.”
Alongside his many commitments, Levin is equally multifaceted in his free time. He is the author of the wine blog “Wein on Wednesday” and host of the podcast “der.mainzer.kultpodcast.” When he’s not focusing on wine, he is playing for the TSV Wackernheim soccer team, is active in the Kerbejugend and, as a true son of Rheinhesse, he of course performs at Carnival.
Wine Princess Laura Schlösser
Laura Schlösser was elected wine princess for Rheinhessen and took her place alongside Levin. Like Levin, she is also studying business administration at the School of Business, making it the first time that two students from Mainz University of Applied Sciences have been named wine royalty at the same time.
Laura has a year of experience as Ingelheim’s Red Wine Princess and learned about winemaking as a child at her grandparents’ winery. Alongside her studies, the 24-year-old works in event management. Being involved in social causes is also an important part of Laura’s life. She has been an active volunteer in working with children and young people at Saalkirche Ingelheim since 2014 and is part of the city of Mainz’s vacation childcare program. Volunteering with the Ingelheim hospice group is also particularly important to her. She manages the social media channels there to raise awareness of the organization’s important work.
