Tag Archives: Rosheim

Vineyards under Snow

February 12, 2022 admin

It snows in many wine making regions. Maybe not as much as it snows in New England over the past couple of weeks, but it does snow, especially in the Sued Tirol and Alsace. Snow and cold temperatures are actually beneficial for vines, even if it is less than optimal for hiking. Thus, I found myself in Alsace two years ago, ready to hike, but wishing I’d brought my snowshoes.

The trail was called Parcours du Vigneron, a 13-kilometer hike through the vineyards on the slopes surrounding the small town of Rosheim. The vineyards, as well as the well-preserved town walls and gates, and some impressive Romanesque architecture, are the chief attractions of the town. This cleverly designed trail, provides ample opportunity to admire it all, and from a couple of different perspectives.

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France, Wines

Wine Notes: Alsace’s Middle Bas Rhin

February 11, 2022 admin

What I Learned

Rosheim and Ottrott are small, but significant wine villages. Both these communes lie in the Bas Rhin department, in the Molsheim canton, in the northern part of Alsace.

Northern Alsace has a great viticultural and vinicultural tradition. Six main white varietals grow throughout Alsace: Riesling, Silvaner, Gewuerztraminer, Muscat, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and the only red varietal: Pinot Noir.

Alsatian Pinot Noir wines tend to be lighter, but very fruit-forward Pinot Noir wines. They are, of course, different from Burgundian Pinot Noir wines, from which tradition they derive. Early in the 12th century monks from Burgundy headed into Alsace, bringing vine plantings with them.

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France, Hiking, Nutshell

Parcours du Vigneron: Trail in a Nutshell

February 11, 2022 admin

Trail Name: Parcours du Vigneron

Trail Type: Mid-distance circuit; well-maintained with mostly hard (paved or packed earth) surfaces; signage for this itinerary mostly good.

Length:

Total – 13 kilometers/8 miles

Circuit du Terroir : 8 kilometers/5 miles

Circuit du Savoir Faire : 5 kilometers/3 miles

Convenient to: Strasbourg, France

Marking: Trail name in black letters, on a white rectangular background with a line drawing of a vintner.

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France, Hiking

The Tour de France and Vineyards

August 12, 2019 admin

This is a post about a long-distance cycling itinerary. But I was not cycling it. The most famous cycle route in France, the Tour de France, has an itinerary that changes every year. Fortuitously, in a perfect storm of time and place, I was able to watch it as it passed.

Fortunately too, there was a short vineyard hike I could do in the area that day. It began in the center of Rosheim, an Alsatian town in the department of Bas Rhin, and a town where the Tour was scheduled to pass through in July 2019. Rosheim is a delightful small town, with a lot of town spirit as I would find out. The trail leading out of town passed several well-maintained buildings of great historic value. In fact, the trail through town followed along the car route Route Romane d’Alsace, or Romanesque Alsace Route, demonstrating that this town has had a long and illustrious past, worth a detour in any visit to lower Alsace.