Alsace Wine and Gingerbread Houses
On Tuesday morning we explored the forest around Mittelbergheim via a two hour walk that took us up to a fantastic viewpoint (Rocher Sainte-Richards), a ruined castle (Chateau d'Andlau) and back amongst the vines - all before breakfast for the dogs - woops!
We then left the dogs in Vincent whilst we explored the really pretty town. Wondering the streets you want to just constantly take photos of all the beautiful facades of the winemaker houses.
After exploring the town we drove down the Alsace wine route to a France Passion site, Domaine Engel, at Orshwiller. Prior to the tasting we walked round the town to see the beautiful houses and marvel at the view from the bench behind the church from where we could on a clear day (!) see Germany and Switzerland.
We returned to the vineyard to taste their wines made from pinot gris, gewurztraminer, and sylvaner grapes. After buying a couple of bottles we returned to Vincent to cook supper.... Spanish omlette!
In the morning we woke to thick mist but managed to walk the dogs amongst the vines without getting too lost before visiting the boulangerie - horror - they had run out of croissants! We then followed the wine route down through Bergheim, Ribeauville and Riquewihr. All three towns have historic streets with colourful colombage houses, bright window-boxes and pretty water fountains.
After visiting all the pretty Alsace villages we headed south to a French Passion site in Voegtlinshoffen. Domaine Kehren is run by Denis Meyer with his wife and daughters. We had a fantastic tasting of pinot blanc, riesling, pinot gris, gewurztraminer and muscat wines before enjoying a tour of the cellars. We just about managed to understand some of the conversations in French whilst listening to the wines ferment in the old oak casks.
After buying a few bottles we walked the dogs amongst the vines, before it got dark, and returned to Vincent for a Thai curry. Hopefully the sun will manage to burn through the mist tomorrow s we are heading for Switzerland.