Alsatian wine tasting in an American wine club

On one of my last trips of 2018 I was touring with some American wine lovers that are members of an enthusiastic local wine club.

We visited Karcher, J.B. Adam, Schoffit and Domaine Weinbach.

At each stop they bought wines and had them all shipped by the USA Wine Club (me ) to the USA.

On a recent wine club evening in the USA, my contactperson Melinda had prepared a great "Alsatian" dinner and presented all her Alsatian wines to the club members.

The written information about these Alsatian wines presented to the club by Melinda, was amazing. I asked her if I could show her work to all of my JoliSoleil website members and luckily she agreed. Here is the first page:

The whole document (pdf) is under "HOME" Members: Wine Club USA on the Jolisoleil website 

Great job, Melinda. Thanks for sharing !

P.S. If you are living in the USA and want to ship wines directly from Alsace to your home and taste them in your club, then have a look at our Web / Wine shop or mail me.

Local markets around - lokale markten rond our BnB in La Forge

Local markets in the La Forge BnB area - Gerardmer and Remiremont

Regionale markten met veel lokale producenten: Gerardmer op donderdag- en zaterdagmorgen. En in Remiremont op dinsdag- en vrijdagmorgen.
Gezellig!

French market days wit many local farmers present around La Forge: In Gerardmer on Thursday and Saturday morning and in Remiremont on Tuesday and Friday morning.

The Alsace Grand Cru tours in 2019

The Alsace Grand Cru tours

​

The history of wine making in Alsace goes back to old Roman times. Castles dot the landscape, villages, churches, vineyards and wines, cuisine and traditions all make Alsace a unique and magical European experience.

​

Did you know that apart from Japan, the french Alsace region has the most Michelin * restaurants in the world? Did you know that there are recognised over 800 soil types in Alsace? Given the fact that most winemakers in Alsace make their wines in the wine field and not in the wine cellar that results in an enormous variety in smells and flavors. It also means that the wine year really make a difference.

Did you know that the great white grand cru wines often have an enormous aging potential?

​

On this tour you will find it all out ! We offer you the biggest names and visit wineries like Zind Humbrecht, Deiss,Trimbach, Hugel, etc.

You will visit the Confrerie St Etienne at the Chateau de Kientzheim with its history and with a wine cellar with over 65.000 bottles going back to the 1800's.

​

We have our lunches and dinners in the finest restaurants often Michelin starred.

The Alsace Grand Cru tour is your chance to visit and taste the very best Alsace has to offer.

​

What you will do and see

​

We will start with an introduction and overview. You will learn about the grand cru system. Understand what happens and what it means when winemakers are not allowed to irrigate their fields.

You will taste from dry to sweet; compare young and old.

Each day you will be in a different area. We will be in "bas rhin" in the north and "haut rhin" in the south, but because of the changing shape and presence of the Vosges mountains, there are a lot of different micro-climates within those areas. The micro climates all leave their trace and signature in the wines.

​

Our lunches and dinners

​

As stated we have selected some great restaurants. Apart from their rating in the Michelin guide they are also chosen for their location. On your tour we do not want to waste time on unnecessary driving. Wines during lunches and dinners are for your own expense, except for the last evening dinner where everything is included.

​

Who will be on the tour?

​

You will meet wine lovers that "know their wines" and also have been in other wine areas. But you will also meet "beginners" and people that want to get to know Alsace and its culinary highlights. Considering age: there will be  younger and older people from diferent backgrounds.

In other words the groups are mixed, but the thing everybody has in common is wanting to "wine and dine" on a high level, get to know the area and meet other people that also want to share that same experience.

​

Stay in a selection of fine hotels

​

Depending on the tour we sometimes choose one hotel for all our tour guests. On other tours we use three of the best hotels in Colmar that  are on walking distcance from each other. That means that you book the room(s) you want yourself.

The tour bus will always pick you up and drop you off at your place. On some evenings we can walk to the restaurant and back to the hotel.

​

Costs

​

The tour rate per person is: Euro 995,=

Once your Alsace Grand Cru Wine Tour begins you can relax knowing that the tour rate covers absolutely everything besides your hotel and breakfast expenses.

So: guides, all lunches and dinners, all tasting wines, excursions, all entrance fees, tasting fees, tips, taxes and gratuities are dealt with. Tipping is neither required nor expected.

Last but not least: you are not obliged to buy any wines on the tour but "if" you do, we can assist you in shipping those wines.

​

Résumée - Alsace Grand Cru tour from Colmar 

• 4 nights, 3 tour days 
• Exclusive touring: minimum of 4 couples or 8 people, maximum 8 couples or 16 people
• Air conditioned mini-bus with driver 
• 7 tastings, more than 60 wines, compare many grand cru's 
• 3 lunches, 3 gourmet dinners (one with Michelin *) 
• Stay in one of three of our preselected hotels in Colmar 
• Tour rate per person: Euro 995,,=,  
• including all tour transport, all tastings, 3 lunches, 3 dinners 
• excl. hotel and breakfasts
• We can assist you in shipping your wines 
• Your tour host : drs. J. Pieter Smits

​

Please check our Event planning for available tour dates​ in 2019 and 2020.

For Alsace book here!

​

Wishing you all a fabulous 2019 !!!

Merry Christmas !!!

Staub - Cast Iron made in France

STAUB gathers people around good food in the kitchen and at the table. Each of their heirloom pieces comes with a story. Born in Alsace, a French region known for its craftsmanship and cuisine, their  cast iron cookware bring a taste of authenticity to every meal. Just look for the STAUB seal on every product. The name is a promise to you that you’re cooking with the best of France…wherever your kitchen may be.

Foodies, amateur chefs, tour guests : we can visit Staub on a "Wine tour" or "Wine and Villages tour" when we are near Turckheim.

Checkout a recent Facebook post with a Staub video here.

Google Business site

Not sure why Google "gives" you another website or as they call it Business Site, but here is ours.
Some posts from that site on a row.

Costs of French wine property per hectare (ha) in different regions in 2017

With a big thanks to iDEALwine and Safer:

En 2017, le prix des vignes de toutes les catégories de vins ont progressé :

• +2,3% pour les AOP
• +4,2% pour les AOP hors Champagne (en Champagne, le gain est plus modeste : +0,8%)
• +8,1% pour les eaux-de-vie
• +3% pour les hors AOP

La hausse générale est le fruit de plusieurs bassins régionaux :

• +7,2% en Alsace
• +5,5% dans le Rhône (ici, presque toutes les appellations progressent, y compris les plus réputées)
• +4,9% en Bourgogne-Beaujolais-Savoie-Jura (les grands et premiers crus bourguignons poursuivent leur envolée)
• +3,8% en Val de Loire-Centre (due en grande partie à Sancerre et Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil)
• +3,1% en Bordeaux-Aquitaine (du fait des appellations bordelaises les plus prestigieuses, Pomerol, Saint-Estèphe, Saint-Emilion)
• +0,8% en Champagne (une hausse modérée du fait d’un repli de la Côte des Blancs)
• +8,1% en Charentes-Cognac (du fait des exportations record en 2017)

La valeur du patrimoine foncier viticole AOP (69,4 milliards d’euros, +2,3%) est concentrée à 86% dans trois bassins qui ne couvrent pourtant que 45% des surfaces : la Champagne, qui représente à elle seule 55% de la valeur du total, plus de 38M€ (et seulement 7% des surfaces plantées), devant Bordeaux (12,7M€, +18%) (pour 28% des surfaces) et le bassin Bourgogne-Beaujolais-Savoie-Jura (8,8 7M€), pour 10% des surfaces.

Entre 1997 et 2017, le prix moyen national des vignes AOP a été multiplié par 2,5 (en valeur constante).  Le premier facteur d’augmentation du prix des vignes reste la baisse des taux d’intérêts, associé à une augmentation du revenu viticole. Le prix des vignes hors AOP, qui avait nettement diminué entre 2000 et 2010, remonte depuis 2010. Une remontée qui peut s’expliquer en partie par le dynamisme du Languedoc sur ce segment (qui représente 70% des surfaces hors AOP) et aussi par l’arrachage et la replantation de cépages plus qualitatifs.

LE PRIX MOYEN DES VIGNES DES PRINCIPALES APPELLATIONS EN 2017

La méthodologie choisie tend à lisser l’évolution des prix, en éliminant les transactions les plus élevées et les transactions les moins élevées.

A Bordeaux

(prix d’un hectare de vigne, évolution par rapport à l’année précédente)

Pauillac : 2 000 000 €/ha1 (-0,79%)
Saint-Estèphe : 450 000 €/ha (+17,49%)
Saint-Julien : 1 200 000  €/ha (-0,79%)
Moulis : 80 000 €/ha (-0,7%)
Listrac : 75 000 €/ha (-0,8%)
Pessac-Léognan :  450 000 €/ha (-0,8%)
Sauternes : 30 000 €/ha (-15%)
Pomerol : 1 500 000 €/ha (+14,5%)
Saint-Emilion : 250 000 €/ha (+7,85%)
Fronsac : 30 000 €/ha (-15%)

Plus d’informations sur les appellations de Bordeaux

En Bourgogne

Les grands crus : 6 000 000 €/ha (+8%)
Les premiers crus blancs : 1 536 000 €/ha (+4,1%)
Les premiers crus rouges : 650 000 €/ha (+2,3%)
Chablis : 164 000 €/ha (+4,99%)
Chablis premier cru : 350 000 €/ha (+0,3%)
Mâcon blanc : 65 000 €/ha (-0,8%)
Pouilly-Fuissé : 240 000 €/ha (-0,8%)

Plus d’informations sur les appellations de Bourgogne

En Champagne

Côte des Blancs : 1 472 200 €/ha (-4,7%)
Côte d’Epernay, Grande Montagne : 1 188 900 €/ha (-0,19%)
Autres régions (Marne) : 1 040 000 €/ha (+1,17%)
Aube : 1 004 100 €/ha (+2,52%)

Plus d’informations sur les régions de Champagne

Dans le Rhône

Saint-Joseph : 120 000 €/ha (+9%)
Hermitage : 1 100 000 €/ha (-0,8%)
Cornas : 450 000 €/ha (-0,8%)
Crozes-Hermitage : 120 000 €/ha (+8,21%)
Châteauneuf-du-Pape : 405 000 €/ha (+3%)
Gigondas : 180 000 €/ha (-0,8%)
Vacqueyras : 90 000 €/ha (-0,8%)
Ventoux : 20 000 €/ha (+10,5%)

Plus d’informations sur les appellations du Rhône

Dans la Loire

Sancerre : 160 000 €/ha (+9,44%)
Pouilly-Fumé : 155 000 €/ha (-0,8%)
Bourgueil : 20 000 €/ha (1%)
Chinon : 22 000 €/ha (-1%)
Montlouis-sur-Loire : 9 000 €/ha (+11,1%)
Vouvray : 21 000 (-1%)
Saumur : 14 000 €/ha (+2,9%)
Touraine : 8 000 €/ha (-1,2%)
Anjou : 14 000 €/ha (+6,87%)
Saumur (Maine-et-Loire) : 19 000 €/ha (-1%)
Saumur-Champigny : 58 000 €/ha (0%) (un chiffre qui ne prend pas en compte le rachat du Clos Rougeard par Martin et Olivier Bouygues en 2017, ce qui traduit des choix méthodologiques spécifiques.)
Muscadet : 10 000 €/ha (-1%)
Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine : 12 000 €/ha (-0,8%)

Plus d’informations sur les appellations de Loire

En Alsace

Alsace (Bas-Rhin) : 106 000 €/ha (+6,1%)
Alsace (Haut-Rhin) : 153 600 €/ha (+6,7%)

Plus d’informations sur les régions d’Alsace

Dans le Jura

Arbois : 36 000 €/ha (-0,8%)
Château-Chalon : 55 000 €/ha (-0,7%)
Côtes du Jura : 27 000 €/ha (+3%)
L’Etoile : 23 000 €/ha (+3,6%)

Plus d’informations sur les appellations du Jura

Dans le Sud-Ouest

Jurançon : 40 000 €/ha (-0,7%)
Madiran (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) : 15 000 €/ha (-0,7%)
Madiran (Hautes-Pyrénées) : 18 000 €/ha (-0,5%)
Madiran (Gers) : 16 000 €/ha (-0,6%)

Plus d’informations sur les appellations du Sud-Ouest

Dans le Languedoc -Roussillon

Fitou : 11 000 €/ha (-0,9%)
Languedoc – Pic Saint-Loup : 40 000 €/ha (+4,44%)
Languedoc – Terrasses du Larzac : 20 000 €/ha (+16,96%)
Saint-Chinian : 12 000 €/ha (-0,8%)
Faugères : 16 000 €/ha (-0,6%)

Plus d’informations sur les appellations du Languedoc-Roussillon

En Provence

Cassis : 100 000 €/ha (-0,8%)
Bellet : 245 000 €/ha (-0,8%)

Plus d’informations sur les appellations de Provence

En Corse

Calvi : 18 000 €/ha (-28,6%)
Patrimonio et Coteaux du Cap Corse : 40 000 €/ha (-0,7%)
Ajaccio : 25 000 €/ha (+23,8%)
Vin de Corse (Figari, Sartène, Porto-Vecchio) : 25 000 €/ha (-0,8%)

1 Prix moyen (€ constants /ha) ; variation 2017/2016. Source : Safer