29 October 2011
Awake to wonderfully cool, fall air. Decide the bathroom is
a little too chilly for showers and close the window. Shower, get dressed, and
head downstairs for breakfast. Today is going to be a GREAT day.
Gather our bags and head back out on the road. We are
heading to the Alsace region of France today for some vino drinking. WOO!
HOO! A few weeks ago, I had one of the
hardest internal debates I have ever had with myself – Alsace or Champagne
region. Alsace has ALL of my favorite grapes/wines. Champagne has champagne.
So, Alsace won only because Liam PROMISED to bring me back to Champagne over
the next few years while we are in Europe. (So, it’s in writing buddy – no
going back now! Hehehehehehe.)
It’s about a 4 hour drive to our hotel in Zellenberg,
France. The boys are in the front and I curl up in the back as we are on our
way. Stop around noon for gas, coffee, and I grab a salad. The boys decide they aren’t that hungry and
will wait till later.
See the sign to Zellenberg and turn down a curvy road that
passes through row after row of grapevines. Keep driving and arrive in the town
center with a large church and quaint French countryside villas. Pass three
wineries and hundreds more grape vines as we wander to our hotel. Life just
doesn’t get any better than this. Find out there is a total of 5 wineries that
offer tastings. Check into the hotel and away we went.
 |
| See. A ridiculously cute town in Alsace. |
We rounded the corner from the hotel and discovered that the
first winery was literally next door to our hotel. In fact, they almost shared
a parking lot. Began tasting. Liam was excited because unlike our wine trip
through Seattle while we were dating, all of these tastings were FREE! Talk
about a kid in a candy store. That also meant my wine-purchasing budget had
expanded. Needless to say, I was pretty excited as well. Tasted several great
wines and bought a few bottles (as in 2 sealed cases).
Walked across the street to the next winery. Tasted a few
and bought a few bottles. This went on as we walked around the town and hit all
five wineries. Keeping in mind that we had to some how get all of this wine
back to Tanzania, we decided to buy 23 bottles. Yes. We thought that one
through didn’t we??? I went a little over board because there are only South
African wines for sale in Tanzania, and while they are absolutely delicious,
every once in a while it’s nice to have a different flavor.
I was carrying most of the wine in my backpack because I
looked at it as an increased workout regime as we walked around town, up and
down the hills. Plus, I’m the wine drinker in our house, so I figured it’s my
job to protect it.
 |
| Full of delicious French wine. Mostly Pinot Gris varietal. Fingers crossed it's en route to Tanzania and makes it here safely! |
We went to the last winery right at 5pm. Since the next day
was a national holiday, we were trying to maximize our afternoon and taste them
all. The pinot gris wines in this area were FANTASTIC. In fact, I think that’s
the VAST majority of the wine we bought. In fact, we bought at least one pinot
gris at each vineyard. To think, many moons ago, I always said I didn’t drink
white wines. Well, I saw the light and haven’t looked back ever since. White
wine is DELICIOUS. Well, except for Chardonnay.
Since we were all stumbling a little after 15-20 tastings,
we decided to find a restaurant for dinner. Walked across the street from the
last winery and were told that the restaurant was booked for the evening.
Decided to head back up the hill to see if there were any availabilities at
another restaurant we had passed. There was so we plopped down and proceeded to
dig our way into a very delicious meal.
After dinner, we walked back to our hotel. The weather was
delightful. Nice crisp, clean air. Grapes vines all around. This is the life.
Now, I’m really starting to get excited that we are moving to Italy. There is
going to be SOOOOOO many opportunities for us to wander around Europe. I cannot
wait. Now, fingers crossed I find a job in Vicenza so we can have the dream
European vacation while we are living in Italy! We are going to
wander all over Europe! It’s going to be so much fun!
Open a window and off to sleep!!
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