Ever since I saw a photo of a small church sitting on top of a hill covered in golden grape vines, I've always wanted to visit Alsace in the autumn. So for four days recently we soaked up the beauty of the Wine Route which runs through this region and all it has to offer with friends, Andrew and Rachael.
The Wine Route is 170kms long and runs along the valley at the foot of the Vosges linking dozens of picturesque historic villages and weaving through the region's wineries. But there is far more to Alsace than its wine - its history and culture a mixture of German and French makes it a fascinating place to visit.
Over the 4 days we explored many of the little villages along the way. Stand out villages were probably Colmar (where we were based for 2 nights), Riquewhir, Eguisheim and Ribeauville. Each village had narrow cobbled streets lined with 'ginger bread' houses all adorned with colourful flowers. Along the streets are little shops, restaurants, wine tasting rooms and people handing out samples of fresh macaroons (for some unknown reason - a local specialty?).
Wine and food forms a key part of the region's appeal and culture - lucky as they were also pretty high up on our agenda! Wines were always tasted along with a suggestion on what they should be paired with - foie gras, the local munster cheese - matching wine and food was very much the done thing here.
The food was really good - and we ate A LOT! The cuisine is a mix of German (sauerkraut, pork hocks, sausages etc) and French (e.g. foie gras, escargot, creme brulee etc). We developed a taste for the tarte flambos - sort of like a pizza and the local pies were also very good - although caution when ordering the latter is recommended as you can easily end up with something quite different to what you are expecting - something we (actually, I) learned the hard way. Not once over the four days did we have a bad meal - a pretty good track record.
It would be wrong not to dabble in the local product. Most famous is the Alsace Riesling, but we soon learned that our soft spot where the rich, spicy and generally fairly sweet Gewurztraminer. Great as an aperitif, with dessert or with foie gras (which is lucky as Michelle consumed the latter almost daily!).
The wine tasting - us and two generations of Mochel winemakers
We did a few tasting along the way - but the stand out for us was a visit on the final day to Domaine Frederic Mochel. This family owned and run estate has been passed from generation to generation since sometime in the 17th century. The son of the current winemaker (a winemaker himself) led us through a great tasting of their Grand Crus - all of which were very nice. He was friendly and informative and even took us for a little tour of their cellar and production area/bottling area.
The drives were very picturesque too. At times we found ourselves weaving through forests of trees coloured rich browns, reds and amber, the ground and road littered with colourful leaves. The Alsatians are an active bunch and the forests apparently their playground for mountain biking, walking and (my favourite) mushrooming! Sometime the forests in the hills felt busier than some of the villages in the valley below! The road would then drop down back into areas planted with grapes - which ranged from being bare, but more commonly were covered in yellow foliage. One day we came across workers harvesting Gewurztraminer for a late harvest sweet wine (called a Vendange Tardive). Next to the workers a bunker leftover from the war sitting nestled in the vines.
The harvest
The bunker was not the only reminder of the wars that have besieged this region in the past. We took a drive up into the Vosges to visit the Natzweiler-Struthof Concentration Camp. This camp was the only camp set up by the German's on French soil, the site chosen so that the workers could quarry nearby valuable pink granite deposits. Although this was not a death camp (there was a gas chamber nearby), many workers were worked to death or killed - between 10,000 to 12,000 are said to have died. It was the first of the camps found by the Americans as they advanced into Germany - so their first real insight to the treatment of the prisoners by the Nazis.
Site of the concentration camp
Outside the camp there is a very modern museum which provides a more general history of WWII and the various concentration camps that were established. What struck me most about the camp was that it seemed so contradictory to have such an awful camp situated in such a beautiful location. A travel writer summed it up nicely when he wrote "On a slope where normal people might have built a holiday complex, the Nazis established a concentration camp".
We had a great experience in Alsace - although it should be visited in small doses - I am sure we all packed on a fair bit of weight even in a short trip like ours!
Alsatian beer marketing - 'Sans Coulotte'
