In this paper we analyze opportunities and challenges of the German wine queen concept as an example of a traditional food product ambassador. Explorative interviews with seven experts from politics, wine marketing and media have been conducted. The wine queen is confirmed as a well-known format that still seems to represent the self-image of the majority of the German wine industry well, especially for marketing abroad. Besides organizational and financial aspects, the main challenge is currently to re-shape the outdated role image and better align it recent social changes, yet without losing the appeal of its traditionality.