Words by Anna Brones
Photos by Anna Brones and Mikael Lavogiez

In the Alsace region of France, the countryside is defined by the bright green parallel rows of vineyards stretching across rolling hills. From atop the crests, the vineyards turn to works of art, meticulously painted lines on a naturally-hued topographical map. Alsace is the white wine producing capital of France and any local will tell you it is a sin to drink a white wine from any other region. It is here that white-wine lovers, both from France and abroad, come to taste their way through La Route des Vins, the Wine Road. With a long weekend off from my normal schedule of classes in Strasbourg, I put myself on the same mission.

My Canadian friend and fellow student Susan joined me and we made our way by bus to Obernai, a small, tourist village in the Alsace region known for its concentration of vineyards. Here the village ambiance is truly Alsatian: wine cellars hidden on narrow streets and bright flowers hanging from the windows of timber-frame houses. In the main square residents meet on market days to buy their week’s necessities and discuss the current state of locally grown asparagus and wine. Voices chatter in the regional patois, a melange of French and German incomprehensible to an outsider like myself.

After a 45 minute bus ride we stepped off in the center of Obernai, and with our map in hand headed up Rue de la Montange, winding up the hill north of the village. We were looking for the house of Madame Seners, who would host us for the weekend, an accommodation complete with homemade breakfast we found thanks to Obernai’s tourism website. Her typical Alsatian house, surrounded by a graciously flowering and colorful garden, included a guest room on the upper floor. White curtains danced in the welcomed breeze and from here I could see the vineyards. The green lines seemed to stretch uninterrupted all the way to the foothills of the Vosges mountans, boding well for our weekend of Alsatian wine tasting.

Madame Seners was a woman in her early 60s, but seemed energetic and talkative enough to be a fellow 20-something. As she offered us a glass of fresh pressed juice she asked what our weekend plans were. Enjoy the calm of the countryside, I responded. “Ah oui…” she said pensively, her eyes proving that she enjoyed this calm everyday of her life and would never dream of giving it up. We were recommended to explore the streets of the village, and given the name of the famous restaurant in its center: La Cloche. “Là vous allez boire du vrai vin Alsacien.” There you will drink real Alsatian wine.

The rest of the afternoon was justly spent on cobblestone streets tracking down the village’s wine boutiques, trying to tire ourselves out in preparation for an elaborate dinner, complete with a list of carefully selected wines from the region.  Read More...