Ribeauville: Another Jewel of the Alsace

Coming out of Rodern and still craving adventure, we trolled the country-side.  Still too early in the spring to put the top down on the Bimmer, but still fun on the narrow, winding roads that twist through the vineyards.  Vineyards.  With that simple word, most would picture a plot of land, maybe even a large plot.  But this is the Alsace.  Everything that’s not a road or a village is a vineyard.  Neat and cultivated rows of vines stretch like thin black ribbons, as far as you can see, across the flatland, and smoothly rolling with the low hills, until finally caressing the slopes of the mountains.

A road sign with an arrow reads:  Ribeauville.  Never been there.  Not yet. 

We leave the vineyards and roll into a town right out of the middle-ages.  For the avid sightseer, nothing beats the Alsace. All you need are some jingle in your pocket, and a sporty car.  Throw predetermined destination aside.  Just drive.  Be prepared to tap the brakes and park at the slightest provocation.

Keep a notebook and pen at hand, along with at least a pocket camera.  You’ll want to jot down the names of towns, the names of wines, general impressions.  Without a bit of a hint, memories melt.  The Alsace is a Disney-set on the grandest of scales.  Small villages.  Towns.  Cities.  All of them pop up with astonishing regularity. Each a jewel worthy of movie-star sunglasses, a casually swung scarf, and café-au-lait at a sidewalk café. Linger as if you belong and the tourists that pass are oh so passé.

In one small town, of which I will write more on another day, we stumbled into a remarkable chocolate shop.  Found out later, it was named one of the five best in France.  That’s the way life is when you allow yourself the time to meander aimlessly.  Expect the unexpected, such as:

A stork guards its nest, high on a steeple

Down below, an Aston Martin

Ribeauville was like that chocolate shop on a grander scale.  Half-timbered buildings.  Cobblestone streets.  Cafés whose tables and patrons spill out onto the old walking street.

The town, which is located 10 miles (16 km) north of Colmar and 47 miles (75 km) south of Strasbourg, kneels at the feet of the Vosges Mountains.  Heard of the Vosges?  More than a name, it’s the birthplace of the famous Rhine River. Across the border is the equally famous Black Forest.

Ribeauville’s history fades back to the 8^th Century.  Here’s an interesting tidbit:  the local king/prince/BMOC was the protector of wandering minstrels.  They paid protection money, of course.  That went on until the late 17^th Century, when the noble family died out.  So these day, street musicians are on their own, but seem unconcerned by the change.  We heard a middle-aged woman, standing in front of a candy shop (confiserie), croon a wonderful version of La Vie En Rose.  Tune into youtube while you browse the Ribeauville photos (below). The song will make your eyes and heart well up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6TvCo9r3GM

Lots to do in the ville.  Old churches: St Gregory and St Augustine.  Castles: St Ulrich, Girsburg, and Haut Ribeaupierre.  As with most castles, these dominate the heights overlooking the city and through the centuries were built, destroyed, and rebuilt.

Or, you can do what we did and simply wander the remarkable streets.  Find a bread shop (boulangerie), pastry shop (patisserie), or just a friendly café.  Sit.  Watch the world go by and marvel at your good fortune.

In Search of Pinot Noir - A trip to Rodern

It’s Saturday.  A beautiful day blooms and my wife has an idea.  Ever the faithful servant, I pull out pen and paper and sit staring, much like a dog that can already smell the dog biscuit.

“I would like to drive to France,” she announces…or is that pronounces.  I no longer distinguish.

My mind rummages through a wastebasket of thoughts.  Seems to me… Of course, wine!  We need more wine!

“Rodern?” I offer.  The offer has a question mark because reading of minds is much to me like handling snakes.  But, Rodern is known as the ‘Cradle of Pinot Noir,’ so I can’t be too far off.

“Perfect!” she says.

We grab maps.  We google.  We load the GPS and fill the tank with gas. Planning at its most perfect.  Euros in the pocket?  Check.  Off on a cozy drive of three and a half hours through beautiful Alsace.

Rodern is an old, tidy village, one among many in the Alsace.  But, there’s a difference and that difference is the grape.  We’ve been there a few times.  Never tire of the place and a visit to our favorite vintner, Metz-Bleger.

You get off the highway and onto dusty, two lane roads.  Follow the signs into what appears to be a trip into the country. The village camps among expansive, rolling vineyards, overlooked by a sizeable castle.

Nestled in the heart of the village, appropriately located on Rue Pinot Noir, Metz-Bleger calls a very old building home.  Built in 1560, destroyed by fire and reconstructed in 2001, it looks new, outside and in, but proudly wears the marks of centuries, including a carriage-door frame whose stone is chiseled with 1541, and symbols of laborers and wine growers.  It’s not alone in its age.  The town is strewn with half-timbered houses, tile roofs, cobblestones, arched carriage doors, rimmed in carved stone and still bearing the symbols of coopers, vintners, and others.  These hark back to the days when not everyone was literate, much like parts of modern day America.

Metz-Bleger

The other side of Metz-Bleger

We stride into Metz-Bleger, just as a French family of four or five strolls out, cases in hand.  Sometimes the tasting room is open and sometimes one must ring the bell and wait for a stout, elderly woman, or her son to appear in the balcony and shout down at you.  Should it be a surprise we want wine and plenty of it???

She pours generously.  Our first trip here, we had a Designated Driver and could swill with abandon.  This time there’s just the two of us.  Even so, we try several Pinots and select a 2012 Réserve Particulière and a 2011 Vieillien Fut de Chene.  The first is a bright cherry red, but lacks nothing in flavor.  The second is a more typical Pinot, with deep color and a more redolent nose. Both sit smoothly on the palate. My French runs out.  The proprietress switches to German.  Good enough.

The history of Alsace is a history of warfare, especially in modern times.  War of 1870.  The Germans claimed it. Then came World War I and the French got it back.  Then came the Sieg Heilers and once again it was German until 1945.  A few years later, the people voted to become French.

Now the towns have either French or German names. History scattered from town to town. Older folks speak both languages, the youngsters only French.

Back to wine.  I confess, I had no idea about Pinot until I saw Sideways, the superb 2004 movie starring Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, and Virginia Maden, along with a most delectable Sandra Oh.  But, unlike the characters in the film, far be it from me bear the title of wine snob.  I know little and explore much.  The Bleger Pinots are superb to this unrefined worshiper.  I filled a car trunk the first time I came and have done some heavy lifting several times since.  Bought 48 bottles this time, along with a few bottles of Crémont, that excellent Alsace version of Champagne.

With a map/brochure to guide us, we wander the streets and alleys. A pity there’s no flesh and blood guide.  I suspect we barely clear the cobwebs off the history of this time capsule.

Yes, I could thrill you with details, but it’s more fun to go yourself.  Meanwhile, I’ll entertain you with photos of some of the town’s treasures.  You can walk the town rapidly, or take your time.  I suggest the latter.   You may have tasted more wine than you meant to.  Easy to do, especially when you know you’ve pleased your wife and can finally relax.

Wonderful wine at five to ten bucks a bottle, in a tiny, yet wonderful little treasure of a town in the Alsace.

House built in 1562

Here's the proof!

Church of St George.  Parts of it date to 1310.

The sign of a cooper, or barrel maker at 43 Rue de Pinot Noir

Down this road is the Schloessel, 1616

I could take photos of every shutter in the town!

How long did it take to wear down these steps?

A wine grower's house...big surprise!

Paella Party - Olé!

It’s always nice to have friends, and not just when you need money or you’re your wife has thrown you out.  They’re especially wonderful when they can cook, and especially if they’ll teach you how.  Drinking you’ll have to learn on your own, although friends can be very helpful there, too.

I don’t disparage anyone’s cooking.  Great Cuisines cover the world.  None of them bad, unless you catch the Koreans on a night when they’ve run out of meat and you notice their dog isn’t barking.  Mexican menudo?…not a fan.

The Europeans in general?  Superb.  But, when it comes to the trifecta, drinking, eating, and partying,  the Spanish take a backseat to nobody.  These folks can start in the late afternoon and finish up with supper at midnight.  Everyone know the prime restaurant seating in Madrid is 10:30 p.m.?  Show up a couple of hours early and you’ll have the place to yourself.

Through my wife, I met a couple, he American, and she Spanish. Pili gives cooking lessons, which may also be classed as party lessons, or drinking lessons.  You gather hungry friends.  You make sangria.  You talk for hours and eat well, with discussions on anything that comes to mind after you've been hitting the sangria ... hard!

Lesson number one, Paella.  But with a Spanish woman, cooking is never just cooking.  It’s about having a few noshes to whet the appetite, washed down with wine, sangria, beer, whisky, or anything else that’s wet.  Then there’s an hour or more of conversation, and discussions on the merits of various foods, condiments, the prime importance of bread, and sentimental trips into the childhoods of everyone present.  The lips must be lubricated, as well as the stomach. 

Only Americans are willing to eat without conversation and a migratory pilgrimage to the kitchen. For the Spanish household, if you want to eat, these things are obligatory. Followed by chopping, dicing, and more intense drinking, interspersed with bubbling conversation and impromptu belly laughs.  Oh, yeah, also a few million instructions on creating Paella.  Pili is an exacting cook, which is a major reason why her paella is the stuff of hungry dreams.

If you’re not familiar with paella, here’re some hints.  Big, flat-bottomed pan. Rice. Seafood.  Chicken. Time. Patience.  If you don’t have the slow moving P word in abundance, make another plan.  Above all, paella takes time and preparation.

Let’s cut to the historic chase.  The dish dates only from the mid 19^th Century. Paella comes from several words in several languages, all of them meaning pan.  The typical paella pan is round and flat-bottomed, with two-inch high sides that lean outward, and support opposing handles.  A lot of non-Spaniards think of paella as Spain’s national dish, but a Spaniard with tell you no, no, no (with a shake of the head and a wagging of the index finger)…it is a regional dish, from the east coast, specifically the region around the city of Valencia.  Lots of different types of paellas.  Truth is, you can put in any meat you want. 

The Spaniards do. 

You make paella in two parts, the pan cooking part and the broth part. Then you combine them with a finishing flourish and a swish of the spoon.

The Recipe (for 6-8 people)

Part I, initial cooking in the paella pan

Olive Oil (I use only Spanish olive oil!)

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced.

1 small onion, diced

1 small green bell pepper diced

1 small red bell pepper, half of it diced and half of it cut in medium strips

2 large chicken breasts (or 4 thighs) skinned, boned, and cut in bite sized pieces

2 calamari steaks, cut in strips (easy to do with scissors)

2 medium tomatoes, peeled and diced

2 cups small grain rice (risotto rice works well)

1 cup small scallops

18-24 shrimp (cleaned)

12 mussels ( An hour before cooking, put them in cold, salty water.  This will wash out any grit.  )

A handful of peas (not canned, but frozen is ok)

1 lemon

Part II, The Broth

2 cloves garlic, mashed in a mortar, with salt and chopped parsley

4 cups fish or chicken broth

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

½ teaspoon colorante (either adobo or turmeric)

2 teaspoons chopped parsley (see garlic above)

pinch of saffron

salt to taste  (along the way, you will want to taste from time to time to make sure the paella or the broth is not too salty)

Putting it all together: (you’re going to be dancing back and forth from paella pan to broth.  Read carefully.  Stick with it!)

1.     Coat the bottom of the paella pan with olive oil. Add the 3 sliced garlic cloves and the calamari.  This is to flavor the oil.

     

2.     Lower the heat.  This is where patience comes in.  Add onions, peppers and peas, along with a bit of salt to help the vegetables sweat. Add the tomatoes. And stir them in.

3.     After a few minutes, take the garlic and calamari out and set aside.  You’ll use them later.

          As the vegetables slowly cook, make the broth in a separate saucepan.  This allows you to taste the broth and get the flavors and color perfect before you add it to the paella pan.  Pour the fish/chicken broth into the saucepan and add the paprika, colorante, reserved sliced garlic and mashed garlic, and a splash or two of either sherry or brandy.  This will help tenderize the meat when the broth is added to the paella pan. Use a white spoon to stir and you will be able to see that the broth is a rich yellow. If it’s too pale, add more colorante.  Cook the broth separately for about 15 minutes to let the flavors meld.

4.     Take the strips of red bell pepper out of the paella pan. They will be used to decorate the dish before serving.  Add the chicken pieces to the paella pan.

5.     Do not stir too much, only enough to turn the chicken.   Don’t worry about the chicken being uncooked.  The paella/chicken will continue to cook as more ingredients are added.

6.     Add rice to the paella pan and stir.  You want the rice to get a nice coating of oil and vegetable juices before you add the broth.

7.     Add the broth to the paella pan and stir quickly, then do not stir again.

8.     Add the prepped mussels to the paella pan. (Do not eat any mussels that have not opened after they are cooked.)  Cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

9.     With 5 minutes to go, decoratively add the scallops and shrimp on top.  Also add the reserved strips of red bell pepper and reserved strips of calamari.

10.  Taste to make sure the rice is cooked.  When it is cooked to your liking, cut a lemon decoratively and put the pieces on top of the paella.  Cover the paella with foil and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

Remove the foil and serve the paella in a burst of steamy goodness.  Don’t forget the bread, salad, water, and more wine!

Watch your greedy guests smile!  Oh, well, they did bring the wine, right….I mean, they did, didn’t they??

Next lesson:  Tapas!