Maiwein, Maibowle, Waldmeisterbowle—Whatever You Call It, This Spring Punch Is a Favorite

This month's Recipe of the Month may be hard to pronounce for English speakers but it's easy to drink for everyone, with or without alcohol.

Photo by Alev Takil on Unsplash

Very few punches come with a legal pedigree like Maiwein does. It’s codified into E.U. law. According to the Council of the European Union, Maiwein, known as May Wine in English, is ”an aromatized drink obtained from wine with added asperula odorata plants or extracts thereof so as to ensure a predominant taste of asperula odorata….”

That “predominant taste” is something like almond cookies and toasted hay, extracted from the sweet woodruff (asperula odorata) used in this traditional Germanic punch. Of course, too much woodruff is toxic—the same can be said for alcohol—but just enough adds a wonderful flavor and aromatic character and keeps it from being a simple drink of strawberries, sugar, and wine.

What makes this centuries-old punch worth revisiting isn’t just its floral sweetness or legal oddity—it’s how it captures the subtle art of drinking with all your senses.

Add the strawberries and Riesling—or a de-alcoholized Riesling like Leitz Eins Wein Zero—and you have the liquid equivalent of the opening score in The Sound of Music—rolling hills dotted with white flowers and a 28-year-old Julie Andrews singing in a joyful lilt. (BTW, I know The Sound of Music is in Austria not Germany, but Austrians also make May Wine, known there as Waldmeisterbowle or Maibowle.)