La Route du Vin

Today, we treated ourselves to a trip along the 'route du vin' (the wine road).

This is a little two-lane road which goes from village to village in the Alsatian 'vignoble' (wine country). It covers about 100 km from end to end. In the summer months, there are non-stop wine fests, hosted by different villages on the weekend, which draw very large crowds: you buy a tasting glass as the 'entrance fee' and then just go from one wine producer to the other in the village. Fun! (except when you need to find your car again...)

Our wineyards are all planted on mountains and spill down on their sides in criss-crossing patterns of rows. Because they are higher up, the grapes tend to get a lot of sun, which produces such wines as the Gewurtztraminer and the Riesling.

The weather again was perfect and the leaves, including those on wines, have started turning as well. The pic is from one of the villages where we stopped and shows off the traditional Alsatian architecture.