Alsatian wine route with LCA Toptour

Visits to France’s scenic Alsace region should always include sightseeing in some of the enchanting, medieval villages along Alsace’s wine road. Located in the foothills of the Vosges Mountains, these atmospheric, small villages are filled with half-timbered structures with intriguing shops and restaurants. Wineries are common there and typically offer tastings, as my wife, Paula, and I discovered during our visit in late November 2013.

In this region, wineries were located inside the city walls for safety rather than out in the vineyards, as was common elsewhere. Although this area was the site of fierce fighting during World War II, most of the wine villages suffered little damage.

Several decades ago, nearly 20 villages were organized into the Route des Vins d’Alsace. Available at local tourism offices, an excellent, free brochure and its associated website can help you select which villages to visit on this Wine Route of Alsace.

While it’s possible to visit these villages with public transportation, either taking a tour or using your rental car is a more practical option. If you’re driving, there are easy-to-find parking lots outside each town. During our off-season midweek visit, these parking lots had plenty of available spaces.

Although we had a rental car, we were ready to relax and let someone else handle the driving, so we took a half-day tour from Colmar. That was the right decision. Our excellent tour guide provided extensive background about the local people and the region along with additional sightseeing ideas.

Our France guidebooks by Lonely Planet and Rick Steves listed two tour companies that offered half-day and full-day tours out of Colmar. Before our departure, I checked with both via email.

Regioscope (Sausheim, France) was not offering tours during our off-season visit. They did offer an 8-hour private tour, but it was priced at €445 (near $617) for two people, including a wine tasting.

Fortunately, their competitor, L.C.A. Toptour (8, place de la Gare, 68000, Colmar, Alsace, France; phone 03 89 41 90 88, email [email protected] or visit www.alsace-travel.com), offers tours every day, except Christmas and New Year’s Day, year-round. (While there is an English-language version of their website, the French version offers more information.)

L.C.A. (Les Circuits d’Alsace) Toptour offers three different half-day tours (4 to 4½ hours) plus a full-day tour (8½ hours) that combines two of their half-day tours. After a few email exchanges, we booked their half-day tour “RV1,” which went to the villages of Turckheim, Kaysersberg and Riquewihr.

On the day of our tour, Jean-Claude picked us up at our Colmar lodging at 8:45 a.m., precisely as we had arranged. Jean-Claude speaks excellent English, and he drove us to L.C.A.’s office, which is conveniently located opposite Colmar’s train station. 

Once there, we paid Mme. Yuki a total of €136 ($189), which included tours for both of us at €60 each, less a 5% Rick Steves discount, plus €1 each for paying with a credit card and €10 ($14) each for an optional wine tasting. As it turned out, we were their only customers for a morning tour that sunny, albeit cold, day. 

Jean-Claude took us to Turckheim, our first stop. He grew up in the area, has experience with wine making, is well versed in the region’s history and is a companionable tour guide. During our rides between villages, he informed us of the area’s history and answered our questions.

At the entrance to each village, he offered good suggestions as to what we should see, provided a recommended walking route (usually giving us a map), then named a rendezvous time and place. With the exception of our wine tasting, we were on our own in the villages.

For us, at least, the time allotted for each village was spot on, but I suspect that many people would prefer a bit more time, especially those interested in shopping.

In Riquewihr, the last village we visited, Jean-Claude expertly conducted our tasting of seven excellent Alsatian wines at the Dopff & Irion Winery (1 Cour du Château; www.dopff-irion.com). 

Upon returning to Colmar, we enjoyed a delicious lunch in a nontouristy restaurant recommended by Jean-Claude.

STEPHEN O. ADDISON, Jr.

Charlotte, NC