Need the wisdom of this group. My spouse and I are taking a trip to Germany and France at the end of August and beginning of September. We will roadtrip, spending a few nights in each of the Mosel (likely Lieser as a base), Black Forest (base TBD), and Alsace (Colmar as base). Planning is still in early phases.
Booked so far:
• Dinner at Waldhotel Sonnora (Mosel)
• Lunch at Zeltinger Hof (Mosel)
• Dinner at La Table du Gourmet (Alsace)
• Dinner at Auberge de l’Ill (Alsace)
I also am on the waitlist for dinner at Schwarzwaldstube (Black Forest), but I am skeptical about getting off.
I would appreciate any and all recommendations, advice, suggestions for any of the three regions—wine tastings, dining, accommodations, must-do activities, etc.
(And special thanks to @andyt77 for helpful threads on some Mosel tastings!)
Great itinerary. We did something similar a few years ago and will be returning to Waldhotel Sonnora next summer. If you don’t get off the list at Schwarzwaldstube, you could check out Bareiss. I’m not sure if staying on the Schwarzwaldstube property will help get you off the wait list. The rooms are dated but the area is gorgeous and the location is obviously convenient.
For Alsace, Auberge De L’Ill and Table de Gourmet cover the fancy food/michelin star type places. We love the country food, rustic but delicious. Tarte Flambee, Onion Tart, Baekoffe, Choucroute, etc. There’s a lot of outstanding restaurants that aren’t fancy.
Zum Pfifferhuis in Ribeauville has never disappointed. Oh and for those who haven’t been to the area, Foie gras (Duck or goose) is considered country style food in Alsace. Tarte Flambee with fresh Muenster also. Best “country” food I’ve ever had!
A few tastings (Binner, Mure, etc) that I liked very much 5 years ago in Alsace and Mosel from a short trip report here. Loved our stay in both those places and keep wanting to go back.
Our Alsace dinners were tavern alsacienne in Ingersheim (near colmar) and winstub Chambard in Kayserberg and those meals were GREAT and casual.
My last time in Alsace was pre-Covid and my wife and I were able to make very short-notice appointments and enjoyed our visits at Domaine Kientzler and Domaine Henry Fuchs, both in Ribeauville, a few years back. Small family-run operations but they sure were genuinely cordial, without being patronizing, in spite of us visiting on the days between Christmas and New Year. Happy to have discovered their wines during dinner at a Strasbourg restaurant where I typed in and sent email appointment requests for the next week.
Of course, Domaine Trimbach in the same town was a primary targeted visit but am confused on how to go about getting a visit as a simple pedestrian, as my short-notice email was never responded by them.
edited to add: My most recent TN of a bottle purchased at the Fuchs winery.
Domaine Henry Fuchs is a great place to visit and the wines are imported to US by Peter Weygandt (Weygandt-Metzler Importing). Town of Ribeauville is very quaint and worth the visit, so are other towns like Bergheim, Dambach-la-Ville, Eguisheim and Riquewihr. Ping me if you want more details.
I forget to add, but the town of Gengenbach in the western part of the Black Forest is one very pretty Germanic town with interesting medieval structures, albeit quite touristy but for good reasons. We day tripped from Strasbourg and I recall it was only about a 35 minute drive.
If you had to eat one Black Forest cake in your life, this is the town to find it .
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