Day 21 – To Alsace

So, after church in Marsannay this morning, I, like Jack, hit the road. I had decided not to take the autoroute to Alsace, as I wanted to enjoy the drive from Burgundy across to the southern tip of Alsace...... and I was right......



My route took me through Genlis, Auxonne (very pretty)and Pesmes (again pretty) before looping round Vesoul and on to Belfort.


All went smoothly until Belfort where I have to confess there was some growling and grinding of teeth as I attempted to loop round the large town without accidently joining the autoroute...... I wrestled with this for over a half hour before having to just drive through the town.... I probably added an hour to my journey....... All good fun Grrrrrrr!


As I left Belfort behind, I began to see the influence of Germany, not only on the style of buildings, but also on the cars on the roads. My experience in France has been that 9 out of 10 cars are either Renault, Peugeot or Citroёn. Now every 3rd car was an Audi, VW, BMW or Merc!


Anyway, a very hot, tired and hungry girl arrived in Thann just after 4, so I’ve had a cold shower and am looking forward to a veggie meal – they seemed to think it wouldn’t be a problem! So we shall see..... Might have to try a cheeky glass of wine as well to celebrate the completion of 3 weeks!

View from the balcony - Thann

PS I've had my absolutely scrumptious dinner...... yes, it was scrumptious and vegetarian... Mmmmm, mmmmmm, mmmmmm!
But to more important matters, I enjoyed a half bottle of wine with my dinner and a glass with my dessert:

AOC Alsace - Pinot gris 2008 - Leon Baur - On the nose, ha, ha, you'll love this, it smelled (yes Mom, smelled, not smelt - I've been told off by my mother for my bad grammar - smelt is what you do to metal....... tell that to my Northern Irish compatriots!) Anyway, it smelled of grapes.... raisiney with hints of sweet apples, maybe pears. And the taste - sweet apples and white peaches.
Alsace is known for its sweet wines, and there is a preconception of Germanic wines of being sweet, but if I may, I wouldd like you to think about the wines you taste from this region..... Are they really sweet? In a sugary way? Or are they just fruity? There is a difference. To know, take your ring finger, dip it in the wine and touch the very tip of your tongue..... Does it taste sweet? If yes, then, it is sugar, if not, then you are misinterpreting fruit as sugar.
So this wine was fruity, but not sweet.
The dessert wine was something else......
AOC Alsace Grand Cru - Pinot Gris - Rangen - This wine from Thann itself, had a nose, again of raisins and the taste was of baked apples, apricots and even honey. This was sweet, yes, but still incredibly fruity - almost luscious, though not quite!
So, if you fancy visiting the Alsace, I would definitely recommend 100% this lovely hotel!