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WHITE WINE OF KINGS
Route des Vins Alsace

Beginning just outside Strasbourg and extending southward for almost 70 miles through the wooded slopes and hills of the Vosges mountains near France’s the eastern border with Germany and Switzerland, the Alsace Wine Road (Route des Vins d’Alsace) has been a noted wine growing region since the middle ages. In the 6th Century Gregory de Tours wrote glowingly about the wines of Alsace. During medieval times the vintages grown here were some of the most expensive and praised of the time, served to royalty. The Thirty Years War ravaged the vineyards, but the region returned to its modern day ripening after WWI. But it is here to in the land along the French side of the Rhine River where the struggles are still evidenced by the Maginot Line (See Maginot Line).

The Alsace Wine region is known primarily for white wines of the more fruity variety. Reisling, Gewurztraminer, Muskat, Pinot Blanc are the principal product of the area, full bodied and elegant wines that are becoming more popular. Pinot Noir is also produced here, but rarer. In France, the Apellation Alsace must be bottled in the unique Alsacian “flute” bottle. The supreme wine of the Alsace Grand Cru must come from only 50 designated vineyards and only four varietals are allowed. In the best vintages, some wines of the Grand Cru can also be called Vendange or "selection nobles". These rare late-harvest wines are particularly sweet, almost a liquer. The appellation Cremant d’Alsace is reserved for the sparkling wines made primarily from Tokay Pinot family of grapes.

The Alsace Route du Vins Wine Road zig-zags south (See also North Alsace Wine Road) through old medieval towns and villages of Romanesque architecture and Renaissance era houses from Molsheim and Mutzig ( (see Molsheim and Mutzig) to Barr and Thann near the Swiss border at Mulhouse (see Cité du Train) with enchanting flower decked streets in the spring through autumn harvest with festivals and wine fairs. One of the most well known castles in the region is Chateau Haut Koenigsbourg (see Chateau Haut Konigsbourg) outside the wine road village of Kintzheim near Selestat . The Kintzheim Chateau is home to the Volerie des Aigles raptor show (see Alsace Wine Road Auberge Inns) and is not to be confused with Kientzheim near Colmar where the Chateau de Kientzheim houses the Museum of Vineyards and Wines, telling the story of the Alsace wine artistry. © Bargain Travel Europe

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SEE ALSO:

FOLLOWING THE SEINE - BURGUNDY AND CHAMPAGE

MARSANNAY - ROUTE DES GRAND CRUS DIIJON

WINE AND WURST - Bad Durkheim and German Wine Road

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