At family gatherings back in Syria, Ninorta Bahno had always been a wine-drinker.

After arriving in Germany three-and-a-half years ago, she took a crash course under wine experts, and now she’s the first ever refugee wine queen in Germany after she was crowned Trier’s wine queen on Wednesday evening. But there’s more to her title than a pretty crown, grapes and vines. In the coming year Bahno is set to present at between 30 and 60 events in Trier, which is in Germany’s esteemed Mosel wine region, as well as at wine festivals extending all the way to Luxembourg. “All the refugees I know are excited about my new position,” she said. “It doesn’t mean she has to become a wine expert overnight,” said Peter Terges, chairman of the association responsible for electing the Trier wine queen.

The 26-year-old is an Aramaic Christian from the Syrian city of Al-Qamishli, and she escaped the Syrian civil war with her sister at the end of 2012, ultimately ending up in Trier.

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