Talk:Liebfraumilch

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An anon removed the statement "It is the best selling wine of Germany." but I think this is probably true in terms of volume. Anyone know of a cite? Wnissen 13:58, 25 October 2005 (UTC)
 * I very much doubt if that is true any more in Germany. Sweet wine is very unfashionable now. It was once the best selling wine in the UK (well Blue Nun was the best selling individual wine). Will look out for references. Justinc 21:52, 25 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Ah, but it says "of Germany." Inside Germany, it's very small. But according to the Oxford companion, 60% of the exported German wine is liebfraumilch! Wnissen 13:48, 26 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Ah of not in, sorry misread. I think some real up to date statistics would be better than rather selective figures that could be interpreted as POV. Will look up some recent figures for production and exports and see what documented. Justinc 00:10, 27 October 2005 (UTC)

I am a german (native speaker) and I am in doubt, if the translation of "Liebfrauen" is correct. "Liebe Frau" literally does translate "dear/beloved woman", but it is the established (catholic) term for Mary equaling the english term "Our Lady". "Liebfrauenmilch" is thus understood by a german as "Our Lady´s milk" (as the "Liebfrauenkirche" translates "Church of Our Lady"). Could anybody correct this? I don´t because I am not sure (my english is not good enough), if "our blessed mother" used in the article has a traditional catholic connotation. BenZin 20:50, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes you are right. Right this minute I cannot think what the right English term is though - "Our Lady" doesnt seem quite right to me (but I didnt have a Catholic upbringing); most of the common usages involve using the word Mary which doesnt give a good literal translation. Mother is common (also a translation of frau isnt it?), but not sure about "blessed mother". Justinc 01:44, 16 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Lol, I thought it translated as "The sweet milk of my wife"! 212.56.88.63 (talk) 22:58, 19 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Liebfrau should not be translated by its component morphemes Lieb and frau. German words that are formed by combining a string of nouns should be defined/translated by their wholes, not their components due to context.  It is a word for "Virgin" and more specifically in reference to the Virgin Mary.  It has no other idiomatic use.  The current translation in the article is not accurate without the catholic context.  The idea is that you are blessed by drinking the mother's milk of the blessed virgin.  The name is derived from the Liebfrauenstift, a convent near Worms.  Frau means woman (typically married) but does not imply maternity, just age (as opposed to Maedchen for a younger girl, and Fraulein for a single, young adult woman), Mother is "Mutter." Will correct this forthwith as this discussion is several years old and I am only replying for clarification of the record.--ColonelHenry (talk) 15:46, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

just a little trivia. liebfrauenmilch is considered to be a very inferior wine in Rhineland-Palatinate, mostly because sweet wine was not very much in fashion and it was just made to bring money in but not to drink it. this is not as extreme today as it was in ~1970-1990 (imho) but liebfrauenmilch is still seen an inferior and only used by people that do not know "real" wine. Elvis 15:33, 10 November 2006 (UTC)


 * then write it ;)! I think this article should show some more of the negatives sites of Liebfraumilch...

What happened to the mention of kerner grape
I thought there were 4 rapes allowed for Liebfraumilch. Has there been a change in the regulations? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Perfection161 (talk • contribs) 13:47, 23 October 2017 (UTC)
 * I sincerely hope you mistyped and mean 4 grapes, don't you? Jochen64 (talk) 02:56, 29 June 2021 (UTC)

Liebfrau vs Liebfrauen
To my (native German) sense of language, the term Liebfraumilch sounds weird. The way nouns are composed would rather demand Liebfrauenmilch – likewise, the Church of Our Lady invariably is Frauenkirche and not Fraukirche; a gynaecologist is called a Frauenarzt, not Frauarzt. Should the heading be changed, or is liebfraumilch the term preferred in English? (Can't tell myself, as I don't use to consume that kind of beverage.) Jochen64 (talk) 02:56, 29 June 2021 (UTC)