Pinot Noir festival in Alsace

Although predominantly associated with fine white wines such as Riesling and Gewurztraminer, Alsace also produces red wine from the Pinot Noir, the Burgundy grape.

Alsace Pinot Noir is a light, fresh wine revealing flavours of cherry, raspberry and blackberry, and soft tannins. It is most frequently aged in wooden barrels, producing a more complex and structured wine with more pronounced colour and flavours evocative of ripe fruits or leather.

Pinot Noir tends to flourish in the slightly cooler climes, which is why you’ll seldom find it in the Languedoc. It tends to be more of a dark rosé in colour, and cheap examples can be a bit thin – so it is not necessarily the best wine to come out of Alsace.
However, you can get a chance to try some out at the Pinot Noir Festival in Rodern (68 Haut Rhin, Grand Est) 16 – 17 July 2016 . The village is on the Alsace Wine route – and even has a “rue du Pinot Noir”!
see www.alsace-wine-route.com

You could stay at the nearby Best Western Hotel Le Schoenenbourg surrounded by vineyards and by the remparts of the medieval wine village of Riquewihr.

Other accommodation on the Alsace Wine Route including B&Bs and self-catering

Known as the Cradle of Pinot Noir, Rodern is a charming wine-producing village, dominating the Plain of Alsace, situated just off the ‘Route des Vins’.

Rodern has many traditional old houses, some half-timbered (from the 16th – 18th centuries) framing little lanes – in which nestle – courtyards and wine cellars bearing a date or an emblem.

On a terrace supported by heavy fortifications, the beautiful parish church raises its square bell tower made out of Vosges sandstone (14th century) and its vaulted chancel of late Gothic style (16th century). It has preserved inside a pulpit and an altar (1760) of baroque style, and an exceptional collection of liturgical clothing. www.ribeauville-riquewihr.com