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Even better is a kir royal, made with sparkling crémant d'Alsace instead of still wine. For a nice apéritif, try a kir d'Alsace, a glass of local white wine with a splash of crème de cassis (black currant liqueur), or other flavors such as peach or pear. It isn't champagne, since to be called champagne it must be from the Champagne region of France, but the local crémants are flavorful and fun. The region is also known for its crémant d'Alsace, or sparkling wine. One of my favorites, not nearly as easily found as the aforementioned wines, is Pinot blanc, which we find well-balanced and refreshing. Gewürtzraminer and Muscat tend to be sweeter and fruitier, but not cloying. Perhaps best known of Alsace wines is Riesling, which here is made dry rather than sweet but as you explore the region you'll discover a great variety of wines. Alsatian Wine Grapesīeing a northerly wine-growing region, Alsace is best suited for white wine. Alsatian WinesĪlsatian wines may not be as well known as the wines of Bordeaux or Burgundy, but they are excellent and plentiful, and exploring the Route des Vins d'Alsace is a good way to get to know them. If you don't have, or want, a car, a number of the villages and towns, including some of the nicest ones, are readly accessible by bus or train or-even better-by bicycle. If you have a car, you could enjoy a day exploring this route ( map), which borders the lovely Vosges mountains and offers beautiful views of vineyards and villages, such as this one: You'll also want to make a detour to see the huge, dramatic mountaintop Château de Haut-Koenigsbourg, a medieval Teutonic eagles' nest restored by Kaiser Wilhelm II. This beautiful region is home to numerous charming wine villages, such as Eguisheim, Ribeavillé, Riquewihr, Kaysersberg - Vignoble, Turckheim and more. Some of the wine route towns and villages can be reached by public bus or train. The whole route is about 120 kilometers (75 miles), passing over one hundred towns and villages, but you can get a sense of it by a shorter trip and visist toa few villages and towns. The Route des Vins d'Alsace, or Alsatian Wine Route ( map), runs from about Wissembourg in the north (northwest of Strasbourg) to Thann in the south (east of Mulhouse and south of Colmar).