Germany-ish

While we technically did not visit Germany the past two days in the Alsace region of France, we could see it from there. Literally, culturally, linguistically, architecturally. I was totally unprepared for how Not France the city of Strasbourg and the surrounding areas would feel. If we had been super adventurous, we could have taken a 2-mile walk to the Rhine River and waltzed into Germany. Uncertain of border control rules, we elected to stay in France.

A neighborhood in Strasbourg
ironically called "La Petite France"

Alsace is again a region, not a city. It is in the far eastern part of France – in the north – and borders Germany. For years, France and Germany fought over the region, it changing hands, governments, and nationalities several times – the last at the end of World War II when it reverted to France once again. As a result, the area is a fusion of both cultures, although there is also a defiant third culture of “Alsace.” Determined to define their own identity – and to keep the ever-changing mother country guessing – the residents of the area developed their own dialect which is neither French nor German and can not be understood by speakers of either language. I have no idea if we heard any Alsatian being spoken. But the locals of Alsace seem to be proudly Alsatian first, and then whatever other nationality/culture they claim second.

When we arrived at the train station in Strasbourg, things felt immediately different. The station was old and tired and sort of dirty. As we wheeled our luggage about a quarter-mile down cobblestones to our centrally located hotel, the “be on guard radar” that we had tucked away after Paris started vibrating again. Strasbourg is not unsafe; it is just a lot more gritty and hard-working and edgy than any of our stops so far. The people look and dress more like they have real lives instead of perpetually Instagrammed outfits and vacations. By the time we left, what had initially felt uncomfortably edgy instead felt more familiarly real.

Us walking from the train station
to our hotel. Just out of view:
McDonalds.

Walking around Strasbourg – and other small villages in the area – felt like what I imagine walking in Germany feels like (the only parts of Germany I have ever been to are airport terminals, so I’m just guessing). All the Bavarian-like architecture juxtaposed with the more-function-over-aesthetics approach of other buildings gave the area a tangibly more foreign feel. And the castles! We saw a number of intentionally-intimidating-but-now-abandoned castles perched up on tall hills as we drove through the countryside on a tour. We even got to visit one!

If you look on the top of one of the buildings and
a chimney, you will see huge stork nests. They
are protected and quite prolific.

The Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle. It was
the stuff of fantasy and imagination!
If I were an 8-year-old boy, I would 
still be there. WAY better than anything 
created by Disney or Spielberg!

The landscape reminded me of approaching Reno or Denver or even the Oregon/Idaho border from east to west. The area is a large valley with the Black Forest in Germany on the east and a big mountain range called the Vosges in France to the west. The Vosges mountains feel like a literal barrier between Alsace and the rest of France (called The Interior by folks in Alsace). The mountain range also changes the weather, typically making Alsace drier (although our experience suggests otherwise - lots of rain in between the sunny photos). The Vosages slopes provide the perfect terrain for vineyards (lots and lots of cabbage grows in the valley).

View from the castle in the Vosages looking east
across Alsace into Germany

The villages in the area south of Strasbourg were quaint, small, historic, picturesque, and surrounded by vineyards. As old as they looked, though, I kept hearing how each village (or at least large portions) had to be rebuilt in the 1940s after the end of World War II. Because they had been destroyed in the fighting. I mean, I know enough of history to understand many European towns and villages were bombed and otherwise decimated during the war. But to actually see evidence (like bullet holes in stone buildings) and to hear casual mentions of total rebuilding caught me off-guard and made me a bit emotional. Suddenly the history was real, not just a story in a textbook.

This village was apparently the inspiration
for the scenery in various "Beauty and the Beast"
productions.

The evening we arrived, we had a scheduled wine tasting in a wine bar on a main street in Strasbourg. It made for fabulous people watching as once again, we arrived at 5:00pm to an empty bar and got to watch locals walk and wheel their way home from work.

The people just felt more real in
Strasbourg. Or maybe just not 
on vacation.

The server gave us a fantastic overview of the Alsace wine region and provided a lab-experiment array of 6 wines to sample, along with cheeses whose names I immediately forgot and meats with one name that I couldn’t forget – head cheese (yes, we both tried just the tiniest bit; no we didn’t really like it).

I was a bit concerned that we were trying 6 wines, 
until I was told it equaled 2 glasses. Nevertheless,
I didn't finish it. So far I'm doing very well not
overtasting! 

The next day, we were on an all-day tour called “The Pearls of Alsace.” I didn’t know what that exactly meant, other than I assumed the pearls were grapes.

Nope.

Turns out we were on an entirely sightseeing tour. No wine tasting or wine education planned. Nooo! I was super bummed. Concerned a mistake had been made – while also talking myself into enjoying the unwined detour for whatever it ended up being – I sent a quick email to the wine tour company that organized our itinerary. Yep, we were on the right tour, but I remain mystified why.

Beautiful Alsace village with their vineyards
on the outskirts

I did my best to enjoy the scenery and the history and the photo ops. And I cried a little inside at every passing mention of the wine industry in Alsace. And ached to explore the wines of Colmar as we passed through what we had been told is the source of Alsace’s very best wines.

Old Colmar. It was so scenic! 
And reportedly delicious. Waaaah!

But then. Then! Everything turned around.

Our tour stopped for lunch in a little village called Riquewihr (yup, I checked three times – that’s the right spelling). We had 90 minutes on our own to eat and explore. They were 90 of some of the very best minutes of the trip – and of my wine life – so far. Just WOW.

We grabbed a local lunch of a tarte flambée at a sidewalk café. It was basically a thin-crust pizza with cheese, onion, and ham. Like MOD Pizza but a million times better.

No sauce, just a cheesy base. And the
onions were sweet and crunchy. I would
have this weekly if I were a local.

We then headed to a wine tasting room that our tour guide (who also guided wine tours that I was certain we should have been on instead) recommended. It was a small, family-run winery with vineyards within sight of the tasting room. One of the sons (Theo) was pouring wines; presumably the rest of the family was taking advantage of the sun to get some work done in the vineyards.  

We said hello to Theo and explained our mission – teach us Alsace wines! Help us understand what is grown in Alsace and help us taste its terroir. In an hour. Turns out Theo was more than up to the task.

I resisted hugging Theo at the end of 
our visit. Instead, I shook his hand and snuck
a photo.

We sampled 6 wines. Five were whites (including a sparkling Pinot Blanc called a Crémant that was the least interesting wine we tried in Alsace) and one was red. Each wine was an explosion of taste, smell, understanding, and education. We loved the peach aromas, the honey, the lemon. We were impressed by the balance of acidity and sweetness. We were startled by how naturally sweet the Gewürztraminer was. And then we tasted the Schoenenbourg Grand Cuvee Riesling and had one of the most epic wine moments of our lives.

Almost worth the effort to fly back with a
well-cushioned wine crate.

Schoenenbourg is considered one of the very best sources of wine of Alsace. The area even has a centuries’ old motto: “Le Schoenenbourg ou pousse le vin le plus noble de ce pays” which means “Schoenenbourg grows the noblest (or best) wine in the country.” Bold words. And not an exaggeration.

Rob and I each smelled the wine. Our eyes grew big. It was a beautiful blend of sweet grapes and citrus, like lemon. We sipped it and went a little nuts. It was sweet but not too sweet, acidic but not too acidic. It was elegantly balanced and had hints of Niagara, which is grape that produces a white wine that tastes just like…grapes. Yeah, I know, hysterical to get so excited by wine that tastes like grapes but WOW!

We just could not get over this wine! It was hands down the very best Riesling either of us have ever tasted. It was perfection in a bottle. I told Theo it was now my gold standard for all future Rieslings for the rest of my life. Our case dreams were dashed HARD when Theo told us their winery is just too small to ship wines to the United States. Before we left home, Rob and I agreed – with conviction and determination – that we would absolutely positively NOT be lugging any bottles of wine home to Woodhaven. We would take photos and notes and bask in our memories. We have been doing SO well! Until Theo’s Schoenenbourg Riesling.

I hugged the bottle while Rob did packing calculations as to whether we had enough bulky soft clothing to transport our Riesling Revelation through yet more of France and then across an ocean and continent. We caved. We bought one bottle – at just 22 Euros (we would have paid so much more). We don’t know when we will have it, but it won’t see 2025. And as much as we love you, we won’t be sharing. Holy Mother of Alsace!  And honestly, I doubt we would have had this once-in-a-lifetime wine experience if we had been on a wine tour. Yet another reminder why I LOVE to travel and why it is critical to go with unexpected detours because you never know what mind-blowing gifts they might bring.

We are drunk with EXCITEMENT!
We shared one set of tastings, so all
that glee is pure and unchemicalled!

So what else did we learn about Alsace wine? Again, let’s start with a map. Actually, two!

Stolen off the interwebs. Note the 
red part in the square - that is Alsace's 
location in France.

Super cool map that Rob found 
hanging on the wall of a restaurant.
It is the size and shape of Alsace
with the town/village names in order
and correctly placed. I will be trying to find
this for purchase online when we get home.

The Alsace region is almost entirely white wines (the only red allowed in an Alsace wine is Pinot Noir). The white grapes are Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Muscat, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and a new-to-me varietal called Sylvaner. The wines we heard about (and saw on wine lists) most were Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and Pinot Blanc.

The soils in Alsace are best described as a patchwork. There are LOTS of different soil types – limestone, clay, sand, granitic – which allows winemakers to play with terroir in making their wines.

After tasting Theo's incredible Riesling, Rob was
determined to learn a few vineyard secrets. We have
about 50 Riesling grapevines in our front yard. Our
resulting wine is not anything like Theo's. Rumor
has it much pruning will be done at Woodhaven
upon our return.

Most Alsace wines are monovarietals (100% one grape type), but some folks are playing with blends.

The Sylvaner was a trip! It was similar to a Viognier in that what it smelled like did not at all match what it tasted like. It smelled flowery and powdery but it had an acidic, lemony flavor. We had a hard time describing it because its flavors were not familiar.

Based on all that we tasted, Alsace whites are much more fun, complex, interesting, and confusing than their grape counterparts we have had in the United States. We had a blast trying to identify what we were smelling and tasting. Our descriptions included: honey; light Prego spaghetti sauce; an orange blossom that tastes like Apple Jacks; a young late harvest (which is contradictory); an acidic mead (also contradictory); ashy; a deli case of meats; a medium-rare steak. And this was describing WHITE wines!

Alsace wines pair wonderfully with their German-influenced foods. For our last dinner, Rob had a ham and cheese Spätzle (an egg noddle dish), and I had a plate of sausages and sauerkraut (followed later in the evening by two Tums and a Gas-X). My Pinot Blanc was like a sweet Sauvignon Blanc – honey but acidic – until I had it with some sauerkraut. Then the wine was soft and fruity – all the acidity disappeared while the rest of the wine held up to the fermented cabbage. Meanwhile, Rob’s lightly sweet and somewhat mustardy Riesling lost its Granny Smith apple acidity when paired with his Alsace egg noodles. It was softer, smoother, and lovely.

Taken mid-meal. Spätzle in the back,
my buffet of sausages and sauerkraut
in front. Also, the mustard had 
horseradish in it. YUM!

Alsace was such an unanticipated departure from All Things France. It really feels like we took a little side trip to Germany. And while it was thoroughly enjoyable, I am looking forward to heading back into the interior of France and check out what Burgundy has to teach us. Stay tuned!

This part of old Colmar was appropriately called
Little Venice due to the canals. France, Germany,
Italy... It was quite an interesting few days!