Yes, We Have No Crémant

Wednesday, September 30 -- Another beautiful morning for a run, and I went up the hills through the vineyards and down through neighboring towns of Hunawihr and Zellenberg.  The latter is actually a little off the road, so maybe I did not run through the main street.  Still a nice morning, and five miles pretty much exactly.

Back at the apartment in Riquewihr, everyone was up and bustling about.  We found that the little red Nespresso coffee machine had given up the ghost, so we made coffee with a normal drip percolator.  In my view, better coffee. 

We set off driving, and decided on my recommendation (as well as positive reviews in the guidebooks) to visit Hunawihr.  We parked in the designated car parking area near the water tanks where Saint Hune, who was canonized in 1520, grew up around the fountain.  The tradition claims that she came there to wash the clothes of the poor.

I had not noticed so much on my morning run the 15th/16th century Church of St Jacques le Majeur overlooking the town of Hunawihr.  The church itself is surrounded by a fortified cemetery (you don't see so many of those).  Moreover, it is a good example of a church that also served as a donjon where the inhabitants could take refuge in case of attack.  The church had once been Catholic and then later Protestant, so the cemetery was divided into the respective faiths. Catholics put up better monuments to their departed family members.

We continued on to Zellenberg, and eventually to Ammerschwihr. On the way we stopped to take pictures of the fantastic garden, graced with gnomes and all sorts of nonsense, alongside the D1b highway.  

Neither Zellenberg nor Ammerschwihr seemed particularly welcoming to tourists.  In one of them, it may have been Zellenberg, we found our way to the premier vintner's courtyard, but the guy we found there had no interest in accommodating us.  We drove on to Ammerschwihr, but they were pretty much closed for lunch too.

In the end, we turned back toward Ribeauvillé. We found a modest cafe on the main street and settled in, enjoying the bright sunshine.  A number of bikers stopped in while we were there, because this is a main spot on the trail up to three castle ruins in the nearby Vosges Mountains.

After lunch and little look around Ribeauvillé, we continued on in search of a good tasting opportunity.  We stopped in the village of Bergheim at the vineyard of Emile et Yvette Halbeisen.  

They were friendly and helpful, but that day were not tasting crémant -- the

sparkling white wine based on pinot gris or champagne grapes -- that day, much to our disappointment.  We did proceed however to taste some riesling and to buy a couple bottles. That was, however, nothing like the seven or eight cases of wine that the girls from Germany were squeezing into their car parked next to us.

Our evening repast was set for the Michelin-rated restaurant, L'Sarment d'Or, in Riquewihr. It features bare 17th century beams, a large medieval fireplace, and is reputed to offer regional cuisine -- things like goose rillettes,

salad and mushrooms, foie gras and Gewurztraminer jelly, veal kidney, fillet of beef with pepper… Marcia said the sauteed fresh foie gras with chanterelles was absolutely fabulous! All of us agreed our main courses were fine, although a bit understated. Most people really enjoyed their desserts, but Marcia's chestnut dessert maybe wasn't the best choice.  

In the end, it was a fine end to our Alsatian eating experience.