Wine tour 2012 - day 10

Sadly it was the last day we were in Alsace, with two of us leaving the group to go back home while another joining. Having checked out from the hotel, we started by driving to Heiligenstein, a small village in the heart of Alsace, to visit Domaine Daniel Ruff. The very special thing for this domaine and village is that it is the home of Klevener, a grape variety seldomly seen elsewhere, producing some very nice wines.

The owner Mr. Ruff could not speak English that well but fortunately David helped us to do the translation. We visited the cellar and the thing interests me the most was the gyropalette. Having read about the machine for doing the riddling process for sparkling wines, it was actually the first time I saw one in action.

Of course the main focus was still to taste the wines, especially the Klevener which is unique to this village. We had tasted a lot on the day, including Sylvaner, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Klevener, Gewurztraminer and Pinot Noir. They were all nice but personally I like the Klevener so bought a few bottles, and you could not believe how good the price were. A 2011 VV only cost EUR 8 and the quality was good.

Moving on we drove to Obernai, another small village which had kept the decor of yesteryear, for lunch at Winstub Le Caveau de Gail. Eating outside in the garden with beautiful weather, we met up an Indian waiter who had been living in France for many years. There were a lot of fun when he laughed at Ah Foot and seemed to think me and Ah Foot look alike!

Continuing the journey we arrived at Strasbourg, the main city in this part of France. However, we got to catch our flight to Bordeaux (and my friends the train to Paris).

Boarded a small plane, we arrived at Bordeaux late in the afternoon. A driver who could not speak much English came to pick us up, bringing us to downtown, to check in at Hotel Quality Ste Catherine, where we met up with Rosa, as well as our guide for this part of the journey Alice.

Alice brought us to a walk around the city, and giving us a small treat in a local brasserie for something light - some very nice shrimps and mussels! Experiencing the city further, one can feel the prosperity of Bordeaux with all the grand buildings as compared with Beaune and Colmar. And you can see more tourists from all over the world here.

On the night we had a good meal at Brasserie Bordelaise, which was crowded and packed. Tired, we returned to the hotel to get ready for the Medoc wine road journey tomorrow.

(to be continued...)