Matinée traction animale 3ème édition - Pulling horses working in the vineyard

For the third year in a row mister Boris Kachelhofer and Jean Paul Schmitt wines in Scherwiller organised a "Pulling work-horse morning" in the wine fields. There were some 6 horses from different owners present.

By the way some winemakers really own a work horse to be used by themselves and some also rent them out to other wine makers.

Of course in the old days, before there were tractors, everybody had to use horses to plow and work in the dirt. But machines took over. In the philosophy of biodynamy the use of machines has many disadvantages. There are vibrations in the soil. There is the pollution of the exhaust fumes. Most important probably is sitting high on a machine that moves over the grapes, you cannot see well what you are doing from up there. The "feel" of the dirt and being close to the herbs and plants is very important. You could say that a biodynamic farmer/wine maker "reads" his land and the grapes.

It is amazing to see how well trained or actually I should say: how clever the horses are. My first notice was that the horsemen do not shout at the horses at all. On the contrary they talk in a soft calm manner with the animals. The horses of course understand "stop" and "go" but they also know when they have to go faster or for example pull. Then they know left and right or to go in a circle. Left and right can also be really one step to the side and then straight on again.

You could see that the horses often understood in which small corridor they had to go when they were directed in a certain direction..

Depending on the structure of the dirt and for example the angle the animals can work from a couple of hours to 5, 6 hours per day. Taking my photos and being close to them I could really hear them breathing hard, so 5 to 6 hours is amazing then.

Going uphill just with my camera I already felt my legs after a while. Imagine how these horses must feel at the end of a days work. They probably do not get a massage afterwards, although I am sure they are well taken care off.

 All and all it was very interesting to see again how much work it is to be a bio dynamic winemaker, also from this perspective.. Only logical that the prices from their products are a bit higher too.

Genealogy tour - Jewish history in Alsace around Scherwiller and Selestat

Over the centuries jewish people have lived and worked in Alsace. We find synagogues in cities like Strasbourg and for example Selestat and Scherwiller. Today not all the synagogues are still in function anymore. The one in Scherwiller for example is used as a place for the local fire brigade.

Over time the jews were chased, also in Alsace, like in many places in Europe. In times that there was the black plague for example, the jewish population was blamed and they were expelled from the towns. Recently the second World War left deep scars.

In the early 1900's and after the great wars, many jewish families moved to the United States. Their ofspring is often interested in where there forefathers came from.

A couple of years ago a big jewish family originating from Alsace, organised a huge family reunion near Selestat. I was contacted in 2014 by a member of this family that sadly could not make it to this reunion event back then. She wanted to see Alsace for herself though and decided to visit this year with her husband and daughter.

We prepared the tour over here. We looked up adresses and found out about locations. We contacted the rabbi working in Selestat. We managed to organize a meeting with a local person via him who had the keys of the synagogue and could show us around at the premises.

On D-Day we drove through the Scherwiller area and in the afternoon went to the Selestat synagogue. Our contact who opened the gate told us he belonged to a family that had had a big reunion a couple of years ago..... He had been present with his little boy. Wow ... this meant that the lady just had met a distant family member of hers! He had been part of the reunion were she couldn't be present.

We were shown around and saw everything. Afterwards the family was presented a book about the history of the jews and the synagogue of Selestat. Needless to say that everybody was very happy and impressed.

Later in the afternoon we went to the jewish cemetry outside Selestat. At the reunion a couple of years ago, the family had placed a memory plate there. Finally "my" family could see it too and touch the plate themselves.

The circle was round. What a great adventure!

Sylvaner

Fresh, light and easy to drink, Sylvaner offers a discreetly fruity or floral bouquet with citrus or white flowers notes. Left aside from the qualitative perspective after the war, still too often branded with a bad image, it is however a wine with an excellent quality price ratio.

Sylvaner may accompany platters of seafood, fish, dishes containing eggs, sausages, hors d'œuvres, quiches and also onion pie’s.

One of our favourite Pinot Noirs ...

One of our favourite Alsace Pinot Noirs comes from Jean-Paul Schmitt near Scherwiller. The estate is officially certified for organic production by Ecocert.