Alsace Wine Tour 2023 – Blienschwiller to St-Hippolyte
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Spitz et Fils to St Hippolyte
Another hot and sunny day when we wake at Spitz and Fils, soon the temperature rises to 26°C. We breakfast and watch a myriad of birds among the vines: goldfinch, black redstart, linnet and sparrows. We call in at the Spitz winery as the Crémant bottling machine has arrived and is in full action in the yard. We are mesmerised by the automated process that collects the bottles onto the moving belt, takes them round to the filling machine where each is lifted, filled with cloudy pink liquid that the sun is reflected through and placed back down, along the moving belt again to be capped (temporarily) with a beer-bottle caps until the next stage. The bottles are hand-stacked horizontally onto large palates.
We photograph the process and call in the tiny chapel next to the winery to say a prayer of thanks and ask for safe travels.
We take the D35 out of Blienschwiller to Dambach la Ville where we enter the village though the 4m stone arch. We do not stop but continue on to D1422 and to Sélestat. From here we change drivers and take N83 to Colmar, A35 to Biltzheim. Next D83 to Cerney and Belfort, A36 to Montbéliard.
We stop for lunch along the way at the Aire de Dambenois and have a good rest and change drivers again. Back on the road and D437 all the way to Saint Hippolyte. About 3km before the village we stop at a non-descript concrete building, a service station at Chem du Lods where there is a water tap, grey and septic disposal all for free. We empty and fill to the top with water and drive the extra couple of kilometres to the town of Saint Hippolyte and the car park by the River Doubs.
Here there are several dedicated Motorhome spaces for free, while most are taken we find a long car space near the old Roman bridge and park up under the shade of some chestnut trees. It is hot, in the high twenties but we walk to the local supermarket, Colrupt and replenish our milk, fruit and vegetables. We are tired so get out the chairs and sit under the shade of the chestnut tree (a family is already sitting at the picnic table) and drink Mr Shwob’s Gewürztraminer with hummus and thinly sliced baguette. We eat a good salad of French Jambon with Jersey potatoes and apricots and later walk down into the town of St Hippolyte.
The hotels and bars in the centre of St Hippolyte overlook the river, they are buzzing but sadly the rest of the town is mostly run down or closed. It has all the signs of a once thriving market and possibly tourist town, but like so many places since Covid, shops are closed and some older houses derelict. About dusk, we walk back via the double lavoir, two large stone baths full of perfectly clear still water, and over the old Stone Roman Bridge to our parking spot by the river. Here we tidy up a little, climb into bed and sleep well after along day of driving 98 miles (158km).
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