09/24-30/26 – Alsace State of Mind
Last year, while on my tour of the French canals, I swung by Colmar, a town on the Alsace Wine Route. That gave me an idea for this short (by my standards) roughly 200-kilometer route. It was short enough, and sprinkled with enough wine-tasting stops, that I managed to lure Julie into joining me. We’d already done a wine-infused trip into the Armagnac area, so this one would fit nicely into the French wine-region-themed bike trips I’ve been doing the last few years. Mid-September seemed well timed, with plenty of wine festivals happening in the area.
Mulhouse and Strasbourg — the start and finish points — aren’t strictly on the official route, but they make it much easier to get to and from the trip by TGV.
Our train was at 4am, so we had to get up at 2am — not much sleep. The train left on time, but very shortly there was a problem with signalling, and we ended up arriving in Paris half an hour late. With that, we only had twenty minutes to change stations, and even though Gare de Lyon is just across the river, two Dimpa bike bags and two Brompton bags didn’t make it easy to run — me with two bikes, Julie with two bags. The effort, though, paid off: we made it in time for the TGV to Mulhouse.
The railway troubles didn’t stop there: there were traffic control problems, and this train was delayed by about twenty minutes. Besides, it was quite slow, hardly any faster than the regular train. But at this point we had nowhere to hurry to: the cycling begins tomorrow. Once in Mulhouse, we settled in the apartment (I had to bring both bikes up four flights of stairs), pottered around town a bit, went to the Automobile Museum (very impressive collection), grabbed kebabs, and called it a day. But not before I accidentally shattered the bedside lamp in the flat we stayed in.
Today in numbers:
~450 — automobiles in the Cité de l’Automobile of Mulhouse (the largest car museum in the world)
Day 2 — Mulhouse to Guebwiller
We started relatively late, just after 9am, without a rush, there was just 50km to cover and the whole day ahead. First, we cycled to Thann, where the Alsace Wine Route begins. There we stopped at a bar à vin to taste some local wine. I had a Pinot Gris and Julie had a “vin nouveau” from Domaine Schnebelen that had been pressed just 48 hours earlier — in other words, non-alcoholic. It was just 11 in the morning. From there we followed the wine route via Cernay and a few other villages.
Just past noon we stopped in Soultz-Haut-Rhin for lunch. This time Julie had a glass of Riesling while I stuck with Pinot Gris. The surroundings had grown even prettier.
Next we cycled to Orschwihr for a proper wine tasting at the Lucien Albrecht winery, leaving with a bottle of their Crémant d’Alsace.
Around 3pm we reached our destination, Guebwiller. After settling into our Airbnb, we walked to Domaine Schlumberger. After tasting a few of their wines, I settled on a small bottle of late-harvest Gewürztraminer: we still have a few days to go. For a good measure we visited Theodore Deck Museum. He was a renowned 19th-century French ceramist.
Today in numbers:
55 km — distance cycled
25 — years for a cork oak tree to become harvestable for the first time
Day 3 — Guebwiller to Ammerschwihr
It was a busy day, by design. Not a long ride, but many villages to visit and a few vineyards to swing by.
First was Rouffach. I don’t remember why I marked it as worth seeing, but when we got there we found it pretty, I guess that was the reason.
This was followed by a stop at the Domaine Humbrecht 1619, where we picked up a bottle of Muscat wine.
From there we cycled to Eguisheim, a very pretty village and part of the list of most beautiful villages. However, also pretty busy, borderline uncomfortably. Our visit there coincided with a visit to the Domaine Gruss et Fils. We parted with our money in exchange for a bottle of Gewurztraminer Grand Cru.
Because Julie hadn’t been to Colmar, we decided to pay a visit there as well, even though it was kind of out of the way. Initially we wanted to have lunch there, but upon arrival, we quickly changed our plans: the town was overrun by tourists, which immediately turned Julie off.
Next stop was Turckheim, another one from the list of the most beautiful villages in France but less crowded than Eguisheim, and waaay less busy than Colmar.
In Ammerschwihr we visited Domaine Maurice Schoech and left with a bottle of Pinot Gris Grand Cru.
On the way to Kaysersberg we passed through Kientzheim, which although not listed, is still a pretty village without the brouhaha of the more famous ones. In Kaysersberg we stopped for wine tasting at Domaine Bernard Haas & Fils but came out empty-handed. The wine wasn’t bad, but what we liked we already had, and buying for no reason didn’t appeal to us. After that we returned to Ammerschwihr, where we were staying for the night. We changed into “civilian” clothes, ditched our Bromptons in the basement, and walked back to Kaysersberg for proper sightseeing and dinner. Flammekueche and beer — yes, beer for a change — did the trick.
Today’s ride, from start to finish, with the exception of the detour to Colmar, was lovely: it brought us along small, quiet roads winding through vineyards and pretty villages.
Today in numbers:
53 km — distance cycled
~600 mm — per year, one of the lowest rainfall totals in France, claimed by Colmar
80 — the age of most buildings in Ammerschwihr, since it was almost completely destroyed during WWII
1002 — the year Pope Leo IX was born in Eguisheim
2017 — the year Kaysersberg was voted “Village Préféré des Français” (France’s favourite village)
Day 4 — Ammerschwihr to Dambach-la-Ville
It was a busy day in terms of the Most Beautiful Villages of France — we visited three. Plus, there were other villages not on the list but pretty nonetheless: Ribeauvillé, Kintzheim, and Dambach-la-Ville, where we stayed for the night.
The first village on our way was Riquewihr: small, pretty, and ever so slightly busy. We left our Bromptons at a corner of the main street and quickly explored it on foot. We were supposed to do a wine tasting there but couldn’t find the intended place, so we moved on.
Hunawihr was even smaller and not busy at all, but also not as pretty.
After a quick ride around, we headed on towards Ribeauvillé, more precisely to Domaine Bott Frères, for the wine tasting. We tried five or six of their wines, and as a result my bag got a little heavier. We then made it into Ribeauvillé itself, where we walked our bikes from one end of the village to the other.
Shortly after, we reached Bergheim, yet another beautiful village. This time, despite the cobblestones, we cycled through it, albeit slowly, to be able to look around.
For several kilometres afterwards there were no particularly pretty villages, but no ugly ones either.
In Scherwiller we stopped at Achillée Winery. All their wines are bio. Neither of us is a big fan of bio wines, but we gave them a chance to try to convince us. After eleven glasses (admittedly quite small ones), we still weren’t swayed and left without any new bottles. Don’t worry, the tasting wasn’t free, so they got a portion of our “fortune”.
While we were there, I realised we’d only cycled thirty kilometres, and Dambach-la-Ville, our overnight stop, was just 3–4km away. It surprised me: according to my calculations, we should have covered at least 45km by the end of the day. If not for this mistake, we could have gone all the way to Strasbourg. Oh well! Instead we had another tasting in Dambach-la-Ville and got a bottle of Sylvaner; luckily, the Brompton T-bag seems to be bottomless.
I’m not used to such short rides at such a leisurely pace, but both Julie and I enjoyed it very much today: the whole route ran through vineyards with the Vosges on our left, mostly on small, quiet roads. Pleasant ride, nice weather, good wine and food — what else does one need to feel good?
Today in numbers:
34 km — distance cycled
411 ha — area under vine in the largest wine-producing commune in Alsace, Dambach-la-Ville
184 — villages that are part of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France