Riquewihr by Night
23 May 2018
The rain had pounded down fiercely for a good half-hour, then had mostly stopped as suddenly as it started. Good news for us, as we weren’t hoping to spend the night dodging raindrops. As we approached Ribeauville, we swung past the town on the Rue de 3 Décembre and continued out to the west. We passed by the trail access to the Notre Dame de Duzenbach and were very thankful the downpour happened now and not when we were out on the hike. We continued a bit further to the Gilbert Holl Distillery.
We’ve had the wine, we’ve had the beer, and we’ve had the Amer... so now it’s on to the eau-du-vie! Literally “water of life” (just like the meaning of whiskey!), eau-du-vie is the French version of the clear brandy much like the German kirschwasser. We’ve had the clear schnapps in the Black Forest, with the cherry, berry, plum, and pear flavors being fairly common. The French however seem to make them from EVERYTHING. Back in September we visited a distillery and sampled fruit and various spice and herb flavors, but also unique flavors like dandelion and garlic. Today we ventured out to Gilbert Holl, who has a large selection of their own unique flavors, in addition to the sweeter liqueurs and even Alsace’s first whiskey.
The building was nestled in the woods along a small stream, its dark reddish-brown wooden walls giving the feel of stumbling on a real woodland hut. They have a distilling museum there, but it was later in the day so we just went in for the samples. The lady who greeted us did not know English nor German, so we had to struggle our way through with the French. We didn’t follow as closely as we did with the jellies, but close enough to know what was going on. Maybe our French is better than we think! We sampled a few eau-du-vie and liqueurs, trying as much of the weird and unique flavors as we could. We were very impressed with the sauerkraut eau-du-vie, and while the violet liqueur we bought wasn’t so strange, the citronella sure was! As she was wrapping our bottles we pondered if drinking that liqueur would keep away the mosquitoes. If it does, we are coming back for another bottle!
We went back to the room for a bit before setting out to the western end of Ribeauville. We’ve driven through this part of town a few times but haven’t actually explored it much. It was pretty, and we found an old stone wall that I think was from the original fortifications. The rain from earlier had fully moved along, and from the blue sky above the wall, the sun shone through rows of grapevines. The winemaking soul of Alsace seems to permeate every part of the area. We walked back through this much quieter part of town, wondering how many new areas of town sit out there waiting for us to explore.
As fun and inspiring as it was walking through this previously unexplored part of Ribeauville, today was more of a day focused on Riquewihr. The sky was clear, the night was young, and the towns were so close together, we decided to head back to explore Riquewihr’s dinner scene. We hopped in the car, and in fifteen short minutes, we parked and stepped back on to that wide cobblestoned road!
We walked along town, checking menus and taking pictures, trying to decide on a place for dinner. We found our way back to Maison Zimmer. The winery was such a great experience for us, with such high-quality wines and great service, so surely the restaurant associated with the winery should be the same way, right? At the very least, we would be able to get more of those Zimmer wines! We found the building with the impossibly bright blue walls and headed in for a table at the Winstub le Tire Bouchon.
The bright blue outer walls gave way to a cozy, dimly lit interior fitting of an Alsatian winstub. Sure, there was a Michelin two-starred place around the corner along with some other fancy spots in town, but Tire Bouchon is really our kind of place. Casual and cozy, with hearty local food that won’t empty our wallet. And let’s not forget the Zimmer wine!
We ordered the one Pinot Gris that we did not sample earlier, and it was fabulous of course! It’s a real shame that Zimmer is one of those wineries that is only really available in town... but in a way, it is not a shame at all. Sometimes the inability to get whatever you want wherever you want allows some things to stay special. Zimmer is not going to be remembered as the wine we picked up at the local PA state store, instead it is ingrained in our image of Riquewihr. Knowing we can’t get the wine anywhere else inspires us to really savor it while we are here. That’s not really a bad thing.
Our dinner was the perfect example of a great winstub! Beth had the choucroute with fish instead of the typical sausage and ham, and it was an impressive dish. That sauce! I chose the Choucroute Riquewihr, which featured duck and goose sausages, and the sauerkraut had so many fresh herbs that it was a brilliant green. We finished with dessert of their strawberry soup, the perfect exclamation point on a wonderful meal. Someday, maybe, we will try one of the starred restaurants. Maybe we will allow ourselves a splurge, empty the wallet, and go for the glamour of fine dining. But it is really hard to find the need to do so when the casual food is the quality as we have found. Bistros, brasseries, winstubs... these are the types of places for us!
We left the restaurant satisfied and happy, and as we stepped out through the door, we bumped into the bartender who served our samples at Zimmer earlier in the day. Despite the French stereotypes many Americans hold, the people here have been so very friendly and welcoming. We strolled through the mostly empty streets of Riquewihr, shop lights and small street lamps illuminating our way. I tried my hand at some night photography, catching the colors under the tower as they change from red to white to blue, the colors of the French flag. We were so happy we came back to Riquewihr for dinner, as the last time we were here we didn’t spend nearly enough time in the town. This time we finally did it some justice.
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