Alsace

Sylvaner.  Gerwuz.  Riesling.

This past weekend we drove North, to the Alsace region in France.  It was a scorcher though, in the 90’s!  We wanted to take the “Route des Vins d’Alsace” through the wine villages on the way up, but the road wasn’t very well marked at the first town we went through (Thann), and our Garmin navigator was giving us conflicting directions (thanks for nothing “Emily”) ….. we were kinda lost for a bit and drove through Thann a few times.  We finally caught up with the road a bit further north at Guebwiller, where we had our first glimpse of the famed half-timbered houses. 

Driving on the little winding roads surrounded by vineyards and hopping from one cute village, to another even cuter village, was truly scenic.  The towns are very medieval and made up of colorful half-timbered houses adorned with geraniums, winding alleyways, old churches, gates and ramparts.   I expected to run into Hansel & Gretel around every corner!

We also enjoyed a few wine tastings on Saturday.  Our first stop was Turckheim, which also happened to be throwing its annual medieval festival.  “In Truckheim, in the Brand, Grows the King of Alsace Wine, Passer-by, whoever you are, Believe in this old saying, Come to a halt and drink.”   

The tasting set-up is a bit different than what we're used to in the States: we smiled, asked if they spoke English and said we were interested in a tasting.  They spoke English and basically asked what we wanted to try (it’s all free, but you're expected to make a purchase).  The tasting rooms are also not located at the vineyard itself, but rather at a separate location, usually in town.  Since we’re not familiar with Alsace wine, the hostess at Cave de Turckheim guided us along (dressed as a medieval wench, to boot, thanks to the festival).  She didn’t really describe the wines too much, but rather poured.  It was a large and modern tasting/sales room, reminiscent of dozens of places in Napa or Sonoma – and we were the only people there.  Not terribly exciting, but a good start, and the wine was nice (we took 2 bottles). 

We continued through several more charming towns and stopped at Niedermorschwihr for the wines at  Vins d’Alsace Justin Boxler.  This tasting room was tiny and cave-like.  There was an elderly French couple finishing up when we arrived.  The woman here spoke English as well and we tried a few more varieties of white wine; we also left with another a bottle in hand.  

All of these towns are very, very small and felt somewhat sleepy – I was wondering where all the people were since it’s peak tourist season.  Then we hit Riquewihr, which is apparently where all the tourists were hiding!  It’s a popular, quaint town on the wine road with a pristine “old town” lined with vibrant, half-timbered houses and looked like a shiny penny.  There was a band marching through town as well, giving it an extra festive feel!

Our last tasting of the day was at the next town up, Hunawihr.   We rang the bell at Sipp Mack and were lead down to another “private” tasting (yeah, we were the only patrons).  The guy spoke perfect English and said he spent some time in the Yakima / Central Washington areas studying wine and said he wanted to settle in Seattle (small world!), but ended up back in France.  We asked if they get many American tourists in this region and he said no, not at all.  Well, we enjoyed a more typical tasting here, where he described the wines and gave us the opportunity to do side-by-side comparisons.  Matt had a good time talking to him and asking questions. We tried several different wines, including a grassy Muscat and even a cold pinot noir (ok, it wasn’t that great), but we really enjoyed the other wines and took home 3 bottles (yep, stalking up on the local wine!).

We stayed overnight in Saint Hippolyte, a town pretty much smack in the middle of the wine road.  It was super small!  The hotel was beautiful though, it’s an old converted school and we had territorial views of the surrounding vineyards and the town below.  We ate at one of the only restaurants in town, Hupsa Pfannala, but it was delicious.  I thought the name of the restaurant, “Hupsa Pfannala”, meant the traditional, ultra-thin flat breat pizza, so Matt ordered that (we thought it was "meat with tomato sauce"), and I ordered a big, hearty salad.  Well, we soon learned that “Hupsa Pfannala” is a local dish made from potatoes, cream, garlic, bacon and grilled in the oven.  It came out on a little skillet on a wood board.  And it wasn’t tomato sauce, but creamy, white cheese sauce.  It was so rich and could’ve been eaten at breakfast as well, but boy-oh-boy was it was tasty.  So, it definitely ended up being a nice surprise!  Good thing we’re not picky eaters…..

Our hotel

View from our room of town

Sunday morning, we enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the vineyards to the next town, Orschwiller.  There are great, marked paths between all the vineyards so you could literally walk from village to village (it’s also very popular with cyclists).

We then drove up to Castle Haut-Koenigsbourg and did a quick self-guided tour.  The castle offered panoramic views of the valley and vineyards below, and we could also see all the way across to Germany.

Ribeauville - another popular town on the wine road.

Before returning to Basel, we stopped in Colmar for lunch, a much larger town with 80,000 people.  It’s called the “Little Venice of Alsace”, but we walked through the old town, and although it was really beautiful, we saw only two tiny canals, thus we were stumped.  However, on our way back to the car, and after cooling off in the fountain, we finally found the big canal!

 

 

It was our first time driving through the border/customs back to Switzerland, but the border patrol directed us to go straight through, so that was easy enough!  Yay.

It was still soooo hot when we returned to Basel that we decided to end our Sunday with a float down the Rhine, a nice and fun way to cool off!  The river was beyond crowded, what a sight.  And now we’re enjoying some of the white wine we bought over the weekend, which tastes very good in this scorching weather.  Cheers!