Riquewihr

Riquewihr. All in all an amazing place, an amazing two days in history, a wonderful hike around the vineyards, and terrific wines Gewürztraminers, Rieslings, Pinot gris, and Pinot Noirs . The town is small. The remains of the fortified city walls and ancient porticos, Dolder lookout tower, and authentic buildings is amazing. This is a small, genuine original 15th and 16th century village. Only a small part of it has been changed modernized with almost no reconstruction after either World War. Apparently only two bombs fell in the city in WWll, thus there is no ‘false authenticism’ as is seen elsewhere in Europe. If you are looking for glamour, glitz and polish; look elsewhere. If you want real authentic, OLD history then ‘downtown’ Riquewihr is what you want! There are about 20 Winstubs? pronounced: Vinschtubbe around the town. A Winstub is a particular winery’s own wine cellar, and reflects their own: ‘posh’, ‘natural’, or ‘sophisticated’ presentation. Some were slick and really cosmopolitan. Others were pretty much a workingman’s’ wine cellar. There seems to be no relationship to the taste of wine. That would be for YOU to determine on your trip there! You don’t have to walk from vineyard to vineyard to learn about the wine. The Winstubs are located around the town, mostly in the cellars of the hotels, and under business’ in town. Actually each village and city along the Route du Vin has their own winstubs, and their own vintners. An interesting point is that about half the winstubs charge a fee to sample. Half are free. Our opinion is that the ones that charge are not worth the price. After sampling around 30 or 35 samples the ones we bought were invariably from the ‘free’ shops. It appeared if the winstub has to charge for the samples, then the product is not making them enough money to start with. The good wine sells itself, and the samples are simply a way to let you figure out which wine suits your particular palette. Some of the Winstubs surrounding the town are actively making wine as you pass by them. I didn’t ask, but found out if you ask at the winstubs they may have a tour of their own vineyards. Having seen wine production before this was not an active interest, and we certainly did not want to lose the time coordinating a visit into our schedule, and waste time waiting for someone to give us a tour. If you have more free time, this would be a welcome option