Europe Wine Adventures: Alsace Day 1

A few months ago Amanda and I had a leisurely Saturday and, as customary in Europe, had a glass of wine with our lunch. Having our common sense dulled and our romantic idealism enhanced, we booked a flight on Condor Air from Anchorage to Frankfurt. My Mom and Dad graciously agreed to take the kids for the week and we were set.

When we visited Luxembourg several years ago we saw campgrounds along the Mosel and so our initial idea for this trip was to rent a Eurovan and camp. However, as we started researching more (after we’d already committed, of course) we found out we were going at the high season and campers were only rented for a 14 day minimum. Oh well, we booked a few quaint hotels, rented a car, and called it good.

July 4th - we departed Anchorage around 2pm. It was a great 9 ½ hour flight over Greenland to Frankfurt, Germany. While flying Amanda could see giant ice sheets breaking up down below; there was minimal turbulence and since we had an exit row, plenty of leg room. A friend of Amanda’s, travelling to Russia, was also on the flight and sat right in front of us.

Upon arriving we had to wait a bit for our car but eventually hit the road. Making our way out of Frankfurt was easy enough and the Autobahn was nice. Our top speed was 160 km/hr (almost 100 mph!) but the speed we could go fluctuated wildly – no need for cruise control! Although it only took us a bit over 2 hours to get to Strasbourg, it took us almost another 2 hours to find Obernai, the small town we are staying in for 3 days. We were beat – we got checked in and slept for a couple hours before heading out to dinner.

Our hotel is incredibly cute – there is an open-air courtyard with tables (where I sit as I write this) surrounded by all the rooms. Beautiful red and purple flours hang from all the windows and balconies and sweet Thyme plants are on every table. The village is a classic cobblestone street French village that has quite a bit of tourism. Lots of people come with their bikes and take day trips; Amanda and I followed one of the routes on our job this morning as we ran to Nidernai, the neighboring town. We ran through corn fields and the backside of houses with lovely French gardens.

Kumala wine

We tried a new wine tonight, Kumala, a South African wine (http://www.kumalausa.com/wines/wine.php?id=183). It was a good wine, nothing special. Slightly sweet, definitely nice fruit flavors, although I didn’t detect the spiciness that they mention. I don’t think I’m a fan of real spicy wines, although a little pepper undertone is nice. Also, in this wine I didn’t taste the tannins.

Although we’ve been drinking wine for several years, now, I find I am still really unable to identify or describe the tastes and smells of a wine adequately. I have a good idea of wine I really like (so far the Shingleback Cab is high on my list) but I can’t exactly describe why. Sideways not withstanding (I liked the movie) I’m not a fan of many Pinot’s. Shiraz is ok, but Merlot’s and especially Cab’s I really really like. In general, enjoying a glass of wine with Amanda at the end of the day is my slice of tranquility… I will pontificate on this experience more later.