The Auswine Forum

2-3 days to spend in either or, what would be your pick, given:

- Beauty of countryside/region.
- Ease at cellar door / wine tasting
- Accommodation / restaurants

Cheers,

Monghead.

Only ever been to Champagne/Reims region so hard to cast vote

ross

voting for Alsace, i've heard its beautiful and a foodies heaven (beside i've been to Champagne). are you planning a trip Monghead?

jamie

Personally I'd love to visit Reims, it's supposed to be a beautiful place.

Still, I'd rather drink a good Hugel or Zind-Humbrecht over a champagne (or so my bank manager tells me) and Alsace has more than it's fair share of picturesque villages/castles/medieval stuff

Go the latter. Everyone goes to Champagne (hell, even my dad's been and he still thinks Rosemount makes great wine)

JamieH wrote:voting for Alsace, i've heard its beautiful and a foodies heaven (beside i've been to Champagne). are you planning a trip Monghead?

jamie

Yeah, certainly am.

5 year anniversary with wifey, and a month and abit in France.

Starting to plan now, so any ideas/thoughts welcome.

Cheers,

Monghead.

I voted Alsace. It's an easy call for me. It's one of the most beautiful wine areas on earth, has great food at reasonable prices, and has a huge range of easy to organize (often just drop in) tastings, many great producers, and you'll be able to taste a huge variety of each producers' wines, often from a range of vintages as well as varieties.

Champagne is very nice, of course, but having a tour of a major producer involves a large group with a tasting of one, maybe two wines. Apppointments will provide more wines, and visiting growers is possible with appointments as well, but just doesn't hit the same heights that Alsace does.

I have no knowledge of either, but I voted Alsace - but only if I could be in Colmar on the 17th and 18th of July to experience the Tour de France.

I don't think it visits any towns in Champagne this year.

My vote is for Route des Vins d'Alsace. Alsace is a wonderful amalgam of French and German culture, with welcoming wine merchants and ample opportunities to taste wines. Villages of note are Ribeauvillé (my personal favourite) and Riquewihr – touristy but delightful. Bergheim is less touristy with lots of wine experiences.

B&B’s abound – but go mid-week if you can, as weekends become very crowded with tourists from across the Rhine. If you need to be convinced, visit the official tourism site at tinyurl dot com/da929b .

Agree with earlier comments re Champagne – a beautiful way to spend a day but if wine tasting is one of your objectives, you will only get to taste a few wines in a day, as most houses require you to undertake a visit prior to tasting. You will, however, learn much about the history and production of Champagne.

If you are driving from Paris to Alsace, you can pass through Champagne (Epernay) on the way – then take the truly beautiful drive over Les Vosges.

I have written some French wine visiting notes on another website – b/c me if you’re interested.

Regards
Tony

I've been wine tasting in Alsace, but not visited Champagne. The Alsace was the most beautiful wine destination I've visited, though we were lucky to be there in vintage, with few tourists and perfect weather. Good food, great accommodation, reasonably priced. Wine tasting is easy enough, some places speak no English, but it easy enough to muddle through. Very easy by car, and I expect by cycle or even foot as many villages are so close. I'll say again, it's outstandingly, almost criminally picturesque.
For the quality of wine (cost aside) Champagne. For everything else there's the Alsace.