Day 23 - Alsace Wine Road - Bennwihr to Marlenheim

Another day and more rain..... Thankfully not the torrential rain of Monday, but wet nonetheless!

I rejoined the Wine Route and made my way through Bennwihr and Mittelwihr to Beblenheim and the Espace Alsace Coopération. It is made up of 17 co-operative cellars and offers not only wines, but liqueurs, sweets, cheese, linens, pottery....... anything really that's locally produced, but just outside they had planted lines of the 7 Alsace grapevines.

While there, I was offered a taste of some of the 'Vendanges Tardive' wines I had mentioned yesterday:

1. AOC Alsace - Muscat 2005 - VT (Jean Geiler, Ingersheim) - On the nose, the now expected raisin, but with apricot and floral notes. And to taste..... wow ripe peaches bursting in your mouth with flavours of honey and raisin.
2. AOC Alsace - Pinot Gris 2005 - VT (Cave de Turckheim) - Floral and raisin aromas on the nose and luscious honey, apricots and a hint of floral to taste.
3. AOC Alsace - Gewürztraminer 2004 - Lune de Miel (Cleebourg) - This was not a Vendanges Tardive, but the lady serving me suggested I try it. It's from the very, very north of Alsace, not on the Wine Route, so I won't be visiting there, so I was delighted to sample a wine from there. Anyway, on the nose it was quite subtle - more white peach and the ripe peach. Ooh, but the flavour, as the name suggests was all honey - peaches and apples, a little bit floral, a little bit spicy, but unctiously sweet..... And not VT. It was explained that while these were not left on the vines, they were left to dry on straw after picking to concentrate the sugars and give them the sweet flavour.
4. AOC Alsace - Gewürztraminer 2007 – VT (Cave d’Obernau) – On the nose this was very raisin – imagine opening a new bag of raisins and that waft you get – that’s what this smelled of. The taste was honey and raisin, with the tropical lychee flavours, floral and spice..... but overall sweet.

So, with those luscious flavours still in my mouth, I drove on to Riquewihr.....

A very pretty town, but in my opinion ruined by tourists....

Don't get me wrong, there were all the ingredients of a beautiful town: cobbled streets, artisan shops, a miniature train, but it didn't feel real - did the inhabitants live here, or just stay here to serve the tourists......

I couldn't put my finger on it, but it wasn't for me.

So back in the car and I passed through Zellenberg and Hunawihr (where I didn't stop at the Stork sanctuary - The Alsatians seem to have a real thing for storks, but there were a couple of things I really wanted to see, so I'm afraid the storks got dropped!)

When I looked at yesterday's blog, I felt a little guilty at the number of pics - I hope I didn't bore you, but it's just that every village is just so pretty, but with a fresh eye and to a stranger, they probably all look much of a muchness, so I've been a little more strict with myself today! What I will say is that, unlike Provence, where one rounded a bend only to be faced with a rocky tower and a village perched atop of it...... In Alsace, the drive is over and through undulating hills at the base of the beautiful Vosges and invariably one reaches the top of a hill only to look down into a valley and be greeted by a church spire and the familiar high pitched roofs covered in small red tiles and brightly painted 'Hansel and Gretel' style houses nestling within the vineyards. Every one is beautiful..... And common to many is a single car width arch at each end of the village to drive through, similar to the one above in Riquewihr.

Ribeauvillé

Bergheim

Châtenois

On I drove through so many beautiful little villages until I came to Obernai, birthplace of Kronenbourg beer. I didn't sample the beer, but I did stop off for some lunch and a wander round the town. It has a beautiful church to Saint Peter and Paul..... a welcome to the endless list of towns with a church of Notre-Dame! And is also famous for its Corn Exchange dating from 1554.

Corn Exchange

13th century bell-tower

As I left Obernai, after a really lovely veggie lunch (Yay!!), I had hoped to stop in Ottrott to taste a speciality of the village, a Pinot Noir, known as Rouge d'Ottrott, but alas, there were roadworks in the village and by the time I navigated round the diversion and back onto the Wine Route, the village was far behind.

Just a random statue in a field along the road!

Back on the Wine Route, I was keen to stop in Molsheim..... During the 1920s, Ettore Bugatti had a factory there and now there is a museum of several of the models built between the two World Wars. So, while it was a little bit tricky navigating into this quite large town, it was bound to be worth it...... Well, if they didn't randomly close on Tuesdays...... and not have a notice on the gates....... So I had to walk in circles to find the Tourist Office to find out the story! Hmmm, I have to say I had a 'Beaune' moment...... The girl went through all that was exhibited in great detail and with great enthusiasm before dropping in at the end that it closed on Tuesdays...... And did I want all the details, so yes, through somewhat gritted teeth, I said, No thank-you, (yes, I did say thank-you), but I'm only here today and I came specially to visit the museum....... And then I flounced, (yes, I know, very mature) out of the Tourist Office.

Pretty Molsheim

The shut Bugatti Museum!

Through Westhoffen and Wangen (note the afore-mentioned archway!)

I made my way to the end (or start, depending on your direction of travel!) of the Wine Route at Marlenheim.

I called in at Artur Metz winemerchants and they were kind enough to offer me a taste of the 'Rouge d'Ottrott' that they carried:

AOC Alsace - Rouge d'Ottrott 2009 - Pinot Noir (Michel Léon) - A floral cherry nose and to taste, yes, cherries again, but with a perfume and quite an unbalanced tannin. Not for me, or maybe I was spoilt in Burgundy!

The night's repose was only a few kilometres further in Wasselonne before the big drive tomorrow to Champagne.