At Home in Alsace (Part 1)

IThrough the Grapevine n previous articles, f’ve written about adventures in The ohone salley and Bordeaux, sharing my thoughts and perspectives on wine, as well as on the geography and culture of France. For the next couple of columns, f would like to offer insights from our most recent France trip in the fall of OMNO.

Crossing sineyards hosted a barge cruise through the Champagne region in late peptember, and almost as an afterthought, we decided to extend the trip with a three day land tour in Alsace. lne of France’s lesser known wine regions, Alsace is pretty much EunfairlyF synonymous with so-so wine.

At the end of the barge adventure, our small tour group was set to travel by Tds from maris’s dare de i’bst to ptrasbourg, one of the northernmost cities in the Alsace region.

ln a crisp paturday morning at daybreak, we departed our barge, pavoir-Faire, which had moored overnight in a little cove along the peine. lur request for breakfast at 6WPM Aj did not endear us to the hospitality staff, but they graciously fed us, hugged us and wished us “Bon soyage.”

ln the hushed weekend streets of maris, we passed the biffel Tower. tithout the picture snapping hordes of tourists surrounding it, this iconic symbol of France looked majestic with the sun rising behind it. f reached for my camera, then paused. This was kind of a sacred moment…no camera could capture its beauty. f tried to savor the way the early morning light shone through lacy metalwork so f could remember it forever.

fn two and a half short hours, we were transported from the international capital of style to the capital of the buropean rnion. te stayed at a charming hotel, Cour du Corbeau, Ewww.cour-cor-