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onjour! 
In this newsletter, we are pleased to share with you our passion for the Alsace region,
which is located at the borders between France, Germany, and Switzerland. We hope you
enjoy reading about the easternmost county of France.
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| Alsace, the Crossroad of Cultures |
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Alsace, a Cultural Crossroad
Located as it is between a low mountain range called Les Vosges, and the French, German
and Swiss borders, this region has a very rich and multi-cultural history. Alsace is now
French, but in times past it was German, so inhabitants typically speak a unique dialect
close to German, but of course everyone also understands French. Alsace is famous for its
quaint 15th and 16th century architecture. Alsatian houses are made of straw and clay,
with visible wooden beams arranged on the facade in complex geometries. Their wooden
balconies are decorated with carved spiral rails, and windows are often framed with
lively sculptures. Alsace is also well known for its hand-painted furniture, its storks
(the symbol of the region), and its culinary specialties: sauerkraut, white wines, Munster
cheese and black whortleberry tarts. The tradition of Christmas trees, as well, probably
came from Alsace in the mid-19th century before being adopted by the rest of France.
Originally, the farmers just hanged apples on the trees. These apples were replaced by
the pretty Christmas balls and ornaments that we use nowadays!
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| Recipe
for December 2000 |
Truffettes de Paris |
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Cooking SOS ! If you
run into trouble with one of our recipes, send
an SOS e-mail to 911@francemonthly.com |
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King Dagobert's Pipeline of Wine
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Legend has it that in the 7th century King Dagobert fell in love with a beautiful young
lady from Kuttolsheim. He was so in love with her that he could not refuse her anything.
One day, she asked him to build a pipeline to convey white wine to Strasbourg directly
from her native village! This huge undertaking was so successful that another pipeline
was built a few years later, this time for red wine!
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| “Blanc de blancs” or “Blanc de Noirs?” |
What are we talking about? Champagne, of course! Did you know that three grape varieties are used in the process of making Champagne?
The result is that you find different types of Champagne. Here are few tips to help you choose:
- A “Blanc de blancs” (literally: white wine made with white grapes) is a Champagne produced from 100% Chardonnay grapes. It's usually fresh, elegant, easy drinking, and makes a perfect aperitif wine.
- A “Blanc de Noirs?” (literally: white wine made with red grapes) is a more rare Champagne, produced from a blend of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes. It is complex, profound and more powerful, so it is often a good pairing with a dish.
- Most Champagne is a blend of these two grapes. The differences between the brands lie in the proportion of the blend and the sweetness of the final product.
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Rebellious Alsatian Women
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On Easter Sunday 1105, in the small Alsatian village of Rouffach, one of the German Emperor
Henri IV's lords kidnapped a pretty young lady on her way to church. Her desperate mother
asked her husband and all the other men of the village for their help in finding her, but
they weren’t eager to fight the Emperor's soldiers. Without the cooperation of the men, the
young woman's mother appealed to the women of the village for help. They all gathered, and
set out for the castle armed with pitchforks and scythes. The soldiers didn't consider the
approaching women a threat and were killed before they even knew what was happening. The
Emperor and the lord had to flee to Colmar. In the end, the women went home not only with
the young kidnapped lady, but also with the Emperor's crown, his scepter and his coat!
Since that memorable day, the women of Rouffach organize all the gatherings, and at Sunday
mass, they are bestowed the honor of sitting on the right side of the altar.
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Saint Urbain in the Fountain!
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Saint Urbain is the patron saint of wine growers, and a very important and well-respected figure
in Alsace. In May, there is a local festival that celebrates the arrival of spring and its promises
with a folk character named "Pfetterri" which is thrown in the fountain. There have been times,
however, when Alsatians believed that Saint Urbain had not been good to them, because of bad
weather and a bad grape harvest. In those years, it wasn’t beyond the people to throw the statue
of their own patron saint in the fountain of Dorfbrunne. Church authorities had to stop them on
more than one occasion from destroying the statue!
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The Legend of Count Hughes and his Famous Son Bruno
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At the beginning of the 2nd millennium, when Bruno was a young boy, a fortuneteller told
his father, Count Hughes of Alsace, that his son would one day become more famous and more
powerful than he was himself. She added that some day, Count Hughes would kiss his own son's
feet. At once furious and scared at the thought of it all, the cruel Count of Eguisheim
ordered one of his soldiers to kill the child in the forest. Unable to be so cold-hearted,
the archer killed a doe and brought back its heart instead of the child's. As the Count
grew old, he felt very guilty about his horrible deed. He confessed to the priest of his
village who told him that only the Pope himself could absolve him of his crime. The Count
went to Rome and kissed the feet of Pope Leon IX. He later found out that his son had never
been killed, and that moreover, the Pope was his son!
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The Schwendi Fountain and its History
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If you visit Colmar, stop at the Schwendi fountain and take a look at the nearby statue of
Lazare von Schwendi. This work of art was made by Bartholdi, a sculptor from Colmar who also
made the Statue of Liberty, in New York. Lazare was a famous captain who fought the Turks in
the 16th century. As a reward, in 1563, Emperor Maximilian II of Habsburg gave him the castle
of Hohlandsburg. Lazare is also remembered for bringing back from Hungary the wine-growing
knowledge of its Tokay region; this method applied in Alsace produced a fruity wine called
Tokay-Pinot Gris which is still very much celebrated today.
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