Route des Vins d'Alsace

Bernardswiller

Bernardswiller

This borough was dependent upon the town of Obernai until 1799.

Heiligenstein

Heiligenstein

Heiligenstein is mentioned for the first time in 1181, but was built between 9th century and this year 1181.
The village belonged to the " Landsberg " who build there their castle in 13th century.
This one was destroyed by the Swedes in 17th century.
The village had from immemorial time a wine vocation.

Barr

Barr

Barr is said to have been an old imperial seigniory.
The devil would have destroyed its castle in 1295.
The castle was captured by the " Armagnac " in 1444.
During the religious wars, in 1592 the castle was dismantled and Barr partially burned-out.
In 1678, the troops of Louis XIV totally destroyed the city.
In 1944, Barr suffered from the very violent fightings between the Germans and the American forces.

Mittelbergheim

Mittelbergheim

The village was originally property of Andlau's abbey, itself belonging to the bishop of Strasbourg.
" Cunon of Bergheim " made build Crax's castle towards 1274.
This same castle is destroyed between 1293 and 1295 by " Conrad of Lichtenberg ", thereafter bishop of Strasbourg.
Stones resulting from the destruction served later for strengthening the city of Lichtenau, in Baden (Germany).

Andlau

Andlau

Sainte Richarde ", repudiated by " Charles the Fat ", founded there an abbey about 880.

Directly dependent from the Holy See, it was granted considerable privileges.

The abbess was also princess of the " Holy Empire ".

The city formed around the abbey, was given in stronghold by the abbess to a powerful family of Alsace, the " Andlau ", who built there a castle.
Later, the " Andlau " inherited from Spesbourg's castle.

Zinck Hotel

Andlau

13, rue de la Marne - 67140 Andlau
+33 388 08.27.30
Nice hotel, quite surroundings

Itterswiller

Itterswiller

This village belonged partially to the " Andlau ", partially to the bishopric of Strasbourg

Nothalten

Nothalten

Imperial village, enfeoffed in the " Berckheim ", then in the " Andlau ".
The castle of " Beheimstein " or " Boemstein ", was built at the 13th century, and dismantled at the 15th .

Hotel Winzenberg **

Blienschwiller

58, Route des Vins - 67650 Blienschwiller
+33 388 92.62.77
Classic Alsatian interior. Rooms are spread over 3 floors and prices are democratic. The owner's family produce their own wines and offer free tasting sessions. Garages available.

Blienschwiller

Blienschwiller

The abbeys of " Andlau ", " Baumgarten " and the bishoprics of "Niedermuenster" as well
as of Strasbourg were owners of properties there.

Dambach

Dambach-la-Ville

Initially property of " Eguisheim-Dabo ", then bishops of Strasbourg ; the city was surrounded by ramparts in 1340.
The future Louis XI besieged the city in 1444, then still during the Thirty years' War which led to the destruction of Bernstein's castle, chief town of an important episcopal bailiwick.

Dieffenthal

Scherwiller

Scherwiller

At first the village belonged to the seigniory of the valley of Villé, then to the " Habsbourg " from the 13th century until 1789.
" Rodolphe of Habsbourg " built the Ortenbourg's castle, in the 13th century, then it was ruined, but reconstructed in 14th century.
It served as base to Lords bandits and is taken in 1470 by Charles the Bold.
During the Peasants'War, on May 20th, 1525, the victorious mercenary troops of the duke of Lorraine plundered the city and massacred about 25 000 Alsatian peasants

Auberge Frankenbourg

La Vancelle

13, rue du General de Gaulle - 67730 La Vancelle
1* Michelin - +33 388 57.93.90
+ Hotel

Chatenois

Châtenois

Known as of 1138 under the name of " Castinetum ".
This Celtic and Gallo-Roman agglomeration is located on the Roman way skirting the Vosges on its Eastern face.
Fortified town belonging to the bishops of Strasbourg, it was occupied by the Middle-class of Sélestat in the 13th century, then during the 15th century by the " Armagnac ".

La Vieille Tour

Sélestat

7 & 8 rue de la Jauge - 67600 Selestat
+33 388 92.15.02

Kintzheim

Kintzheim

Vast royal domain at the Merovingian time.
The " Rathsamhausen " acquired the seigneury as of the 13th century, then as of the 14th century the town of Sélestat became its owner until 1789.
The castle, destroyed a first time by the troops of the bishop of Strasbourg during the war opposing " Adolphe of Nassau " to " Albert of Habsbourg " in 1298, was sold to the town of Sélestat in 1492.
The fate seemed to go fiercely at this castle which was destroyed again by the Swedish troops in 1632.

Orschwiller

Orschwiller

The fate of this village was always bound to that of the castle of Haut-Koenigsbourg.
Initially ownership of " Hohenstaufen ", then successively of the Dukes of Lorraine, of the Counts of " Werde ", landgraves of lower Alsace.
The castle is enfeoffed to powerful Alsatian families.
In the 15th century Lords - bandits made it their haunt , that led it to be destroyed by a league of cities and Lords.
Being hardly reconstructed in the end of the 15th century, the Swedes brought it to a state of ruins in 1633, during the Thirty Years' War.
The city of Sélestat offered it to the German emperor Friedrich Wilhelm II, who ordered the complete restoration of it. From 1901 till 1908 this was achieved under the lead of architect Ebhard.

Saint-Hippolyte

Saint-Hippolyte

Neolithic site occupied at the Roman time.
" Fulrado vilare " or " farm of Fulrade "" of Saint-Denis is quoted for the first time in 774.
It is only when Fulrade, abbot of Saint Denis deposited there relics of " Saint Hippolyte " that the village took its current name at the end of the 8th century.
Saint Hippolyte passed to the Dukes of Lorraine in the 13th century, and was fortified before 1316.
It was then that the village was provided with the title of city.
It remained an enclace of Lorraine of the ground of Alsace until the Revolution

Rodern

Rodern

The parish was attached to the bishopric of Basle until 744 .

The village is at this time already quoted in the list of the wine villages of Alsace.

Rodern is quoted towards 1200 under the name of
" Rodere " or " clearing ".

Rodern belonged to the Lords of " Rappolstein " who sold it to the " Habsbourg " in 1313.

An anthracite mine was exploited there from 1772 till 1850.

Rorschwihr

Rorschwihr

The archeological excavations made in 1894 on the site " Galgenbuckel " enearthed a polished axe of the Neolithic era and another axe from the end of the Middle Bronze era, as well as vestiges of the " Hallstatt "era.
Two large jars of the Late Bronze era were found there in 1969 (currently visible at the " Unterlinden's Museum " of Colmar).
" Chrodoldeswillare " or " farm of Chrodold " in the beginning a Germanic first name, listed in 742, following a transfer of property carried out by " Rantwig ", a noble monk and son of " Chrotwig ".
Successively " Radaldivillare " in 1114, " Roleswilre in 1183, " Rorswilre " in 1268, "
Rorswilr " in 1328, " Rorschweyr " in 1415, " Rorszwiler " in 1485, " Rorschwyr " in 1547, " Rorschweir " in 1870, " Rorschwihr " in 1919, " Rorschweir " in 1939, and finally " Rorschwihr " in 1945. The village belonged later to the " Rappoltstein " Lords of Ribeauvillé, who sold it to the " Habsbourg " in 1313.
The yard " colongère", with rights of asylum, called " Meyerhof " or " Master's house " belonged to the Vosgean abbey of Moyenmoutier.
The " colonge " was a particular rural organisation specific to Alsace and some Rhinish countries during the Middle Age.
This property began in the 12th century to end with the Revolution.

Bergheim

Bergheim

Bergheim was occupied as of the Neolithic era on the site called " Grasberg ".

Traces of Roman housing still remain on the site of the city, and more to the east.

Being quoted towards 705 as " Bercheim " phonetic contraction of " Berg ", mountain, and of " Heim ", home.

The village changed ownership thirty-two times during the Middle Age, its principal owner being the " Ribeaupierre " in addition lords of Ribeauvillé, and the House of Austria.

The strengthened city as early as 1311 benefits then on from the rights of asylum.

In 1848, anti Semite Riots were generated by the presence of a significant Jewish community living in the city.

The village was miraculously spared by both World Wars.

Ribeauvillé

Ribeauvillé

Occupied under all the times since the Neolithic era, " Ratbaldo vilare " or " farm of Ratbald " appears in 759.
This same name gave in modern German " Rappoltsweiler ", in Alsatian dialect " Rappschwihr " and in French " Ribeauvillé ".
The borough belonged to the lords of " Rappoltstein " or " Ribeaupierre " who, since the 11th century resided at the castle of " Rappoltstein ", renamed later " Saint-Ulrich ", name of the owner of the castle vault.
The " Rappoltstein " built during the 13th century the castles of " Hohrappoltstein " or "
Haut-Ribeaupierre " and of " Girsberg ". They decided also to fortify the city towards 1287.
Enlarged several times to face its expansion, the urban enclosure formed as from the 14th century four autonomous and contiguous districts, communicating between them by fortified gateways.
Two districts of the upper city and those of the lower city often belonging to two different branches of the family, each one their own castle in their part of the city.
In 1525, the " Rappolstein " severely punished the inhabitants' participation in the Peasants' War.
The " Rappoltstein " died out into 1673, not without having tried in 1563 to introduce the Reform, without much success.
Their heirs, a branch of Palatines' Count, recognized French sovereignty, but kept the seigniory until 1801. A this time, the last among them, " Maximilian of Palatinat Deux Ponts ", was named King of Bavaria by Napoleon.
The " Rappoltstein " and their successors were " Kings of the street musicians ", i.e. they had in stronghold of Empire the protection and the jurisdiction of all the itinerant street musicians and wandering entertainers of Alsace.
The street musicians' brotherhood met each year in Ribeauvillé on September 8th .
After a pilgrimage at " Our Lady of Dusenbach ", local site of pilgrimage, within the sound of the instruments, the " Rappoltstein " judged the disputes between the street musicians.
Nowadays, the " Pfifferdaj " or " Street musicians' day " is celebrated again with great splendour.

Hunawihr

Hunawihr

According to a tradition from the 11th century, Huno and his wife Sainte Huna, owners of the village, offered it, in the 7th century, to the missionary bishop Saint Dié (the monk " Deodat ", founder of the Monastery of Saint-Dié in the département of Vosges, 88).
The seigniory of " Horbourg ", then the duchy of " Würtemberg " were respectively owners of the village.
The pilgrimage dedicated to Sainte-Hune attracted many believers from 1520 until the Reform (1534).
At the beginning of 17th century, an plague epidemic gradually emptied the village of its inhabitants.
Then, from 1687, with the arrival of some new catholic families, the " Simultaneum " was introduced (alternation of the worships within a same religious building).

Riquewihr

Riquewihr

The village was mentioned for the first time under the name " Rochovilare " in documents of 1049.
During the 11th century it belonged, as part of it, to the property of the Counts of Eguisheim.
Chief town in the 12th century of a seigniory belonging to the Lords of " Horbourg ", who fortified it in 1291 and conferred the status of town on it in 1320. In 1324, the " Horbourg " sold all their possessions to the Counts of " Wurtemberg " and died out little afterwards.
Riquewihr remained in the hands of the Counts, then Dukes of " Wurtemberg " until 1793. Their armorial bearings are omnipresent in the city.
In 1525, the inhabitants tired of undergoing the tyrannical treament which was inflicted to them by the Dukes, took part in the Peasants' War.
The Calvinism was introduced in 1534, and the Lutheranism little after in 1559.
The 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century marked the apogee of the city, enriched by the sale of its famous wines.
The Thirty Year's War set an end to this prosperity.
Riquewihr made new great strides in the 18th century after joining France in 1793.
Since the 20th century, Riquewihr knows a deserved tourist success and is currently one of the most visited places France, pearl of Alsace and the vineyard, is surely one of the most beautiful villages of France.
One rushes up from the whole world to discover its treasures.

Zellenberg

Zellenberg

"Cellanberge" means "Zell am Berg" or "monastic establishment near the mount": the village is known as of the 10th century.
It is indeed to a " cell " or small monastic establishment, precisely " Luxeuil's one " that Zellenberg owes its existence.
The old village was located at the foot of the hill.
In 1252, the " Horbourg " built a castle at the southern end of the hill dominating the village.
The agglomeration moved closer to the castle, to be fortified.
Becoming a city, the old village was gradually abandoned.
The castle was destroyed at the end of the 18th century.

Beblenheim

Beblenheim

The " Babilenheim " gave their name to the village which was quoted under this name as of the 10th century. The village belonged to the seigniory of Riquewihr, i.e. to the " Horbourg ", and from 1324 to the counts of Würtemberg.
Introduced into 1535, the Reformation clearly modified the aspect of the borough. There is still an old leper-house left.
Christian Oberlin's home town, who founded the wine institute of Colmar, and Christian Pfister's homeland, the historian, member of the Institute (1857-1933).

Mittelwihr

Mittelwihr

" Mitenwilre " or " Middle Farm " is quoted under this name as of 974.
The vine growing since was always the principal activity of the village.
Murbach and other abbeys possessed vineyards there.
The counts of " Wurtemberg - Montbeliard " were the owners from the 14th century till the
Revolution.
However the village depended on the seigniory of Riquewihr.
It knew dark moments during the severe fightings of the " Poche de Colmar " and was almost entirely destroyed in 1945. It has been rebuilt since.

Bennwihr

Bennwihr

Vestiges of Neolithic housing. Mentioned as of 777 under the name of " Beno vilare " or " Beno's village ".
The village belonged to the lords of " Horbourg " until their extinction into 1332, then to the bishop of Strasbourg who in 1437 passed it to the lords of " Rappoltstein ".
During the battle of the " pocket of Colmar " the village was entirely destroyed in 1944.

Sigolsheim

Sigolsheim

" Sigoltmarca " is quoted as of 768. Later the name of " Sigoltesheim " or " Sigolt's territory " or " Sigolt 's dwelling ", " Sigolt " being a Germanic first name.
As of the Carolingian time many abbeys, attracted by the reputation of its wines managed to obtain donations there.
This explains why as of the 9th century Sigolsheim had already three chapels of which the most important one, founded by " Sainte Richarde ", emperor " Charles the Fat's wife ", became thereafter the parochial church of the village.
It is in the " Lügenfeld " or " field of the lies " close to Sigolsheim, that the three sons of " Louis the Devout " after having hired away his army in 833, captured their father and then forced him to abdicate.
In 1466 the palatine troops took the fortified cemetery by storm .
Sigolsheim was completely destroyed during the relentless combats of the " Poche of Colrnar ' during the winter 1944 -1945.

Kientzheim

Kientzheim

" Conesheim " is quoted as of 785.
Various seigniories shared it during the Middle Age, most of the time it depended on the seigniory of " Hohlandsberg " which belonged to the " Habsbourg ".
The village was pawned to the Count of " Lupfen " in the 15th century.
This one established himself there, had the castle built, surrounded the village with ramparts towards 1430 and conferred to it the privileges of a city in 1460.
During the 16th century, the village became the property of " Lazarus von Schwendi ", general of the emperor during the war against the French and the Turks.
It was this same " Lazarus von Schwendi " who either introduced on his lands a new type of vine called Tokay (says a strong legend), or brought back of his tour some wine of Tokay.
After the Thirty Year's War, Kientzheim, fell down to the level of a village.
Kientzheim was also heavily damaged during the battle of the " Poche of Colmar " ( pocket of German resistance ) during the winter 1944 - 1945.

Kaysersberg

Kaysersberg

Kaysersberg, was to be known before 1100, time of foundation of the Benedictine priory of Alspach, upstream of Kaysersberg.
This priory was transformed into a convent of Clarisses in 1282.
The emperor Frederic II had a castle built at a strategic point : both on a throttling of the valley
and on a hill dominating the road towards
Lorraine, on the western side of the Vosges mountains.
" Keisersperg " or " Mount of the Emperor ", is quoted in 1227 and owes its existence to the castle.
Indeed, this castle quickly gave rise to an agglomeration. It was fortified as of the 13th century and in 1293 was endowed with the same privileges as Colmar.
Kaysersberg was part of the " Decapolis " from 1354 until 1648.
The population took part in the Peasants' War of 1525.
Annexed by France with the other imperial possessions in Alsace.
Fatherland of the world known Doctor Albert Schweitzer.

Ammerschwihr

Ammerschwihr

Occupied as of the Roman time, Ammerschwihr is quoted in 869 under the name of "Amairici Villare"

Katzenthal

Katzenthal

The name of the village derives from " Chazzo ", Germanic first name, and of " Thal " or valley.

Dependence of the castle of " Wineck ", it belonged successively to the counts of
" Ferrette ", then to the " Habsbourg " family, in stronghold of the bishops of Strasbourg, then of Basle.

Until the Revolution Katzenthal was part of the borough of Ingersheim.

During the battle of the " Pocket of Colmar " over the winter 1944 -1945, the village was 90% destroyed .

Niedermorschwihr

Niedermorschwihr

Known under the name of " Morswilre " as of 1148. The village, renamed Niedermorschwihr at the 16th century in order to be able to distinguish it from Obermorschwihr which is close to Eguisheim, belonged one half to the Empire and for the other half to the " Habsbourg ". No visible vestige remaining, the thesis affirming that the churchyard would have been fortified is contestable.
Located on the three banns of Ammerschwihr, Niedermorschwihr and Turckheim are the " Trois-Epis ", quiet resort sheltering a health centre of altitude and rest cure.
The " Trois Epis " were founded from a pilgrimage dedicated to the Virgin, founded 1491: indeed, the Virgin is said to have appeared to a blacksmith of Orbey, holding in a hand three ears of corn, in the other one a hailstone (forecast of good or a bad harvest depending on whether people would convert or not).
The pilgrimage started again quickly, after being stopped by the Thirty Year's War.
A priory founded in 1651 was done away by the French Revolution.
The pilgrimage however still exists.

A l'Agneau d'Or

Munster

2, rue Saint Gregoire - 68140 Munster
+33 389 77.34.08

Turckheim

Turckheim

"Thorencohaime " or " Thuringian's House " is quoted as of 742.
Roman finds were made : a statue of Mercury, coins, remains of walls, pipeworks on the sites known as " Gemür ", "Hausenfeld ", " Thalweg ". Merovingian burials were also discovered there.
The village belonged to the Munster Benedictines' abbey during the Middle Age.
In 1312, promoted to the status of city, Turckheim was fortified.
The city adhered in 1354 to the " Decapolis".
The significant prerogatives that the abbot of Munster kept to the city were at the origin of frequent conflicts with him.
The situation was all the more confused since half of Turckheim belonged to the seigniory of " Hohlandsberg ", in fact to the " Habsbourg ", then in the 15th century being given as security to the Count of " Lupfen ".
In 1465, he invades the city by surprise, at night, following a conflict relating to the belonging of the immigrants.
This conflict ended definitively only in 1485.
After 1672, the King of France stripped Turckheim of his autonomy.
In 1675, after the " Turenne's victory " over the Imperial troops, Turenne allowed his troops to plunder and to set fire to the city because its burgomaster had helped the Imperial troops.
In 1978 the church Sainte Anne was almost destroyed by a fire.
Nearby, the locality of " Trois-Epis ", with its church of pilgrimage, is on the three banns of Turckheim, Labaroche and Ammerschwihr.
The Christmas feast is quoted in 1597, that of Saint Jean in 1540.

Wintzenheim

Wintzenheim

Wingisheim " quoted as of 786 was already a lodging stage in the Roman time, the remains of a villa testify to it .
The village, although fortified prior to 1275, never obtained the privileges of a city. This village of vine growers belonged to the Empire and partly to the " Habsbourg ", through its membership to the seigneury of " Hohlandsberg ".
The " Hospitallers " of Colmar (Knights of Malta) had a vault there, and later owned the castle of " Thurnburg ", today's Town Hall, which enjoyed the right of asylum.
In Saint Gilles, West of Wintzenheim, the Swiss abbey of Payerne had a court " colongère " which was transformed into a priory at the 14th century." Pflixbourg's Castle " built by the emperor at the beginning of the 13th century, used as residence to an imperial baillif, was probably destroyed at the 15th century.
The castle of " Hohlandsberg " was built in 1279 by " Rodolphe of Habsbourg ". It wasthe centre of a wide seigniory which the " Habsbourg " from the 14th century, successively pawned to the " Rappoltstein " in 1363, to the counts of " Lupfen " in 1415, to " Lazarus von Schwendi " in 1568

Ingersheim

Ingersheim

" Anngehiseshaim " as of 768 belonged to the " Habsbourg " until the treaty of Westphalia, in 1648, who were also owners of the castle of" Hohlandsberg ".
The vineyard was the property of many abbeys.
The vestiges of the ditch in the western part of the village show that it was fortified.
An old leper-house.
Destruction of the centre of the village in 1944 at the time of the combat of the " Poche de Colmar ".
Ingersheim is gradually being integrated into the agglomeration of Colmar.

Colmar

Colmar

Occupation of the old Neolithic era on the site called " Rufacher Huben", tumulus of the Hallstatt era razed to ground, on the current site of the northern industrial park.
Colmar, quoted for the first time in 823 under the name of " Columbarium " or " Dovecote ", was the centre of a vast royal domain, which was in the 10th century half of which was offered to the bishopric of " Constance ", and half to the abbey of Payerne (Switzerland).
The courtyards of " Payerne's Oberhof " and the " Constance's Niederhof " were the cores of the future city.
Fortified in the beginning of the13th century, it became an imperial town.
The constitution, fixed into 1360 after hard internal fights, gave the main part of the power to the professional corporations.
Colmar was one of the principal cities of the " Décapole " at the end of the Middle
Age, with its prosperous business of wines, an important artistic bloom, illustrated in particular by Martin Schongauer, painter and engraver.
In the 16th century, the Reform did not manage to definitively supplant Catholicism.
Annexed to France, in 1679, Colmar becomes the headquarter of the Sovereign Council of Alsace, the highest judicial authority of the province.
Chief town of the department of Haut-Rhin in 1791.
Between 1871 and 1918, under the German occupation, the city distinguished itself by a particularly marked francomania, whose satirical draughtsman Jean-Jacques Waltz, called " Hansi ", is the expression thereof.

Le Rapp

Colmar

1-3-5 rue Weinemer - 68000 Colmar
located in the old center of Colmar - limited number of private garages.
+33 389 41.62.10