Early in 2014 we were contacted by an American family from Dallas investigating the history of their catholic forefathers originating from Alsace. Interestingly enough, a couple being in their eighties who had met in America had both ancestors from and family in Alsace.
After meeting at the trainstation of Strasbourg we drove to our first stop; the mayors building in Reinhardsmunster.
We were very warmly greeted by mister Daniel Brandstetter. Mister Brandstetter knows a lot about the history of the area and had prepared our visit there. Via him we met the current mayor of Reinhardsmunster and Mrs Carline Buchel who let us in their office to look and copy some old documents and maps.
When I tell you that this all took place on a cold Sunday morning, we can not be else than very thankful of this kind cooperation in their spare time.
Among many handwritten documents in French and Latin we found some birth- and baptize certificates.
There had been a church next to the cemetry of Reinhardsmunster. It has been destroyed. Today there is just a small chapel. A little further in town a new church was built.
Parts, artefacts and building blocks from the old church were used in this church. An example is this baptismal font.
Knowing this came from the old church, we understood that this was the font used to baptize some of their family members.
People we just found some old baptize documents from.
Amazing!
On the cemetry we found a lot of ancestors resting there. The family must have been numerous and important in the old days.
After lunch we drove to a village called Epfig. Now we focussed on the forefathers of Madame.
Epfig has a very interesting and beautiful little church called the Chapelle Sainte Marguerite, a roman churh dating back to the 11-th century.
To me it was a mystical place. Outside in the cemetry on one side you will find a herbal garden.
In one wall of the Chapel sits a stack of bones and skulls of "unknown people" killed in a war near the village of Epfig. They are finding a last resting place in the church wall of the chapelle Sainte Marguerite.
On the cemetry we found lots of ancestors of the family. In the streets today there were still wineries that carried the name.
Interesting detail on the cemetry was a statue referring to people that got decapitated by a guillotine.
Here is a little video on the Chapelle
All and all we found lots of traces of the forefathers of both families.
For me as a guide it was an impressive experience and lovely day.
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.
Just when I thought I was really understanding the history of Alsace my husband and I ran across something really interesting on a wine tour.
Lovely vines of domain Haegelin
We were at the Bollenberg with "HAEGELIN Materne et ses filles". In the field at the top of the hill is, "La Chapelle des sorcieres du Bollenberg". The chapelle was built at the pinnacle where the magnetic field were the greatest.
View from the top of Bollenberg
This chapel, we were told, was a place of animal sacrifice to the Celtic god Bollen, or Belenos, the Shining One. Now it is a little Catholic chapel......
View of La chapelle des socieres du Bollenberg
Why we asked was a Celtic God in Alsace? Well it turns out that Alsace is really so old that the Celtic people were in Alsace before the Romans! Wow.
In the vineyard of Bollenberg, at domain Haegelin
"In terms of a starting point, the Celts probably had their birthplace in the Alsace-Lorraine region of eastern France in the years between 1500-1000 B.C. This is roughly the time when Moses and King David were said to be active in Judea. The Celts of this period were a Bronze Age people, although before long they became the first people north of the Mediterranean civilizations to use iron, giving the Celts a superior position in weapons and tools in their geographic region." Just when you thought you knew a lot, a whole new learning curve comes your way. More on the story of the Celts: The Ancient Celts is here
In wine tastings reports you can read things like (for example): "Lots of freshness, fruit, black berries, a hint of leather and tobacco" And then it gets (again for example): 93 points.
I often wonder ... but did you LIKE the wine? And WHY? Did the wine touched you emotionally? Did the winemaker made himself clear to you, thru his wine? Did he or she communicated with you? And did you have somehing to eat with it? And ... who else was present? Your beautiful wife wearing her silver earrings?
It makes me think about how is written about hifi music systems over the years. Especially in the past, you could read reports like: "it had a lot of base and it played the silent parts without much hiss., logical a modern transistor design with 2 times XX watts and 0,0003% distortion ...." Followed by some more measurement results.
But then there were journalists that went one step further and did try to write about that something extra: "emotion and communication" ...Forget the Watts, did the system touch you? Did you feel and understood what the conductor and/or composer wanted to communicate to you? .....
"You can hear every nuance and inflection of every instrument; the dynamic range is unparalleled and the time-machine sensation of being present at the original performance is staggering—the performance, driven and I mean driven by Reiner's conducting as a man possessed is utterly electrifying. One of the most astonishing recordings the Hand Of Man has ever produced." .... (Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade [RCA LSC-2446])
How would it be if we introduced a little more "emotion" in our wine tastings and see if we understand what the wine maker and his/her terroir is telling us?
This is why JoliSoleil - JSwinetours states: "" Wine is like jazz: I can analyze song structure and such, but I'd rather enjoy the music".
What do you think?
#jolisoleil
It is not everyday a person is able to taste one wine that is 44 years old, and we were able to taste twelve bottles of Riesling of this vintage at one sitting! What fun! I will do my best to describe this for you.
The event took place at the castle of Kientzheim, home of the "Confrerie Saint Etienne".
The tasting was conducted starting from the South of Alsace to the North. All of the grapes were harvested in October 1970.
At this point in time "Grand Cru" did not exist yet in Alsace. Some producers did use this term already on their label though. Another point of interest is that some "full" bottles contained 70 cl and not 75 cl as today.
All of the bottles had a cork change in 1994.
1. Clos St Lanselin: Beautiful golden color, floral to the nose, slightly acid. Amazingly this wine can still be kept longer, as it smells and tastes young. Flavor and aroma open up more in the glass, seems to be alfalfa. May still keep longer.
2. Grand Reserve Cave cooperative Westhalten. Beautiful golden amber color. Finer and more complex. On the nose a bit of honey. Balanced acidity. This one is at its end, drink it now, it will not get any better.
3. Leon Beyer Equisheim. Golden amber in color. On the nose the scent of nutmeg, and with tasting, spicy, pepper and nutmeg. Drink now.
4. Joseph Schafar Winzenheim. Golden amber color. On the nose black licorice and caramel. Shorter, less complex, lost its power a bit. Drink now.
5. De La Bourse Colmar. Light yellow in color. On the nose almond and muscat. Fresh, good acidity, lemon citrus fruit. Can keep another 5 to 10 years! Amazing.
6. Pierre Sparr Altenburg. Amber color. Tired, acidity on the end. Falls apart. Drinkable but hurry up.
7. Sick P Dryer Ammerschwihr. Light yellow. On the nose vegetable. High acidity, nice structure. Rhubarb, light sugar, light minerals specifically granite. Very clean. May keep a bit longer.
8. Preiss Hemny Mittelwihr, Mandelberg. Yellow amber in color. Not too alive anymore, nose is gone, flavor flat. Drink now.
9. Ed Rentz-Ray Zellenberg. Dark yellow color. Nose cassis fruit. Mild acidity. Drink now.
10. Gustave Lorentz - Bergheim. Orange golden color. Nose fruity. Classic attack, fresh, round short on the end with a bit of acidity. A bit more sweet, like a vendange tardive. Drink now.
11. Riesling coming from Barr. Amber in color. Nose mostly gone. Tired, low acid, short. Drink now.
12. Riesling coming from Obernai. Color yellow gold. On the nose petrol and white flowers. Round, and bites on the tongue, carbon dioxide, cold fermentation. Drink now.
My conclusion : Riesling IS the king of age in Alsace.
