The Alsace wine route: Turckheim, villages and grape varieties

The Alsace wine route was inaugurated in 1953. It unrolls 170 km between Marlenheim, to the north, and Thann, to the south, following the foothills of the Vosges. Turckheim is on that line, in the section radiating around Colmar. The town has kept its medieval plan: three fortified gates and substantial remains of the town wall still enclose the old town, which makes orientation very simple once the car is parked.

You enter through the Porte de France, whose lower part dates from 1330 and which had a drawbridge and a portcullis. Just behind it, the Corps de Garde, a pink building, houses the tourist information office on rue Wickram, in front of the Stockbrunnen fountain already cited in the municipal regulation of 1667. The Porte du Brand, the most defensive of the three, stayed closed all year except during the harvest. The Porte de Munster carries windows decorated with scallop shells.

The Turckheim vineyard carries one of the 51 grands crus of Alsace: the Brand. It covers 57.95 hectares on slopes facing south and south-east, up to 380 metres of altitude. The soil is granitic, made of quartz, feldspar and mica. The slope receives about 1,800 hours of sunshine a year for close to 600 mm of rainfall, which makes it a warm, early terroir. The wines gain a mineral tension there and a saline finish.

The planting is dominated by riesling (41 %), ahead of gewurztraminer (31 %), pinot gris (25 %) and muscat (3 %). Vines are recorded on these slopes as early as the 8th century, and a local saying fixed the place’s reputation: “Zu Türckheim im Brand wächst der beste Wein im Land”. The cru gave its name to the gate opening onto the vineyards, which helps orientation from the old town: the Porte du Brand is the logical starting point towards the slopes.

Several wine villages lie a few kilometres away. Katzenthal and Niedermorschwihr share the Sommerberg grand cru, set against the foot of the Trois-Épis on a very steep south slope, close to 45 degrees, rising to nearly 400 metres. Its soil comes from the two-mica granite of Turckheim, weathered into granitic sand. Winegrowing is documented at Niedermorschwihr as early as 1214, and the Sommerberg appears as a distinct lieu-dit in the 17th century.

Katzenthal also shares the Wineck-Schlossberg with Ammerschwihr. This granitic cru of 27.49 hectares takes its name from the ruins of Wineck castle, whose keep is ringed by vines; the monks of Marbach grew vines there from 1211. Riesling occupies 70 % of the area. The Florimont, for its part, is shared between Katzenthal and Ingersheim and is crowned by an oak wood. At Wintzenheim, the Hengst covers 53.02 hectares of marl, limestone and sandstone soils, sheltered by the Vosges summits to the west and by Hohlandsbourg castle to the east.

Widening the radius a little, the wine route stage around Colmar highlights Eguisheim, Kaysersberg and Riquewihr, three of the most visited villages of the vineyards. Traffic is heavy there in high season: setting off early from Turckheim remains the most comfortable way to see them. Haut-Koenigsbourg and Hohlandsbourg complete the picture on the castle side.

Alsatian winegrowing rests on seven varieties. Sylvaner gives a fresh wine with a lightly fruity and floral bouquet, which goes with shellfish, fish and charcuterie. Pinot blanc, also called klevner, is the base of the crémants and is recognisable by its notes of peach and apple. Riesling, planted here from the late 15th century, develops citrus aromas and, depending on the soil, a clear mineral expression. Muscat, made dry, is drunk young and pairs with asparagus.

Pinot gris shows a yellow to amber robe and smoky notes of undergrowth and dried fruit; it stands up to dishes usually reserved for reds. Gewurztraminer, highly aromatic, plays on exotic fruit and spices, and accompanies munster cheese. Pinot noir is the only red variety allowed in Alsace. To these are added two blends: edelzwicker, simple and fresh, and gentil, governed by a charter requiring at least 50 % riesling, muscat, pinot gris or gewurztraminer.

Turckheim offers three walking trails. The Dragon trail is the town’s vineyard trail: allow about two hours of walking, a level suited to everyone, and walking shoes. Free parking is available at the start, and a leaflet in French describes the route. It is the most direct way to understand the vineyards from below: you move from dry stone walls to sloping plots, with the Fecht valley below and the Vosges behind.

The heritage circuit completes the walk on the heritage side. It lasts about fifty minutes, starts from the tourist information office and passes the three gates, the Hôtel des Deux-Clefs, once the Black Eagle tavern where Hortense Mancini, wife of the Duke of Mazarin, stayed, as well as the houses of the Red Ox and the Wild Man. The former Royal Provost’s manor, where Charles Grad was born, and the Tithe Court, once the residence of the weights and measures controller of Munster abbey, are private property: they are looked at from the street.

By bike, the Véloroute du Vignoble d’Alsace follows the foot of the slopes over 131.5 km, as a section of EuroVelo 5. It divides into five stages, including Sélestat to Colmar and Colmar to Guebwiller, which frame the Turckheim area. The route uses former railway lines and stretches of Roman road, which gives gentle gradients and an even surface. Those who prefer to leave the car can also take the Kut’zig, the open-top bus running along the wine route.

The grower’s calendar begins in winter. Pruning is carried out during dormancy, from December to March; the dominant form in Alsace is single or double Guyot, keeping one or two canes of variable length on each stock. From mid-February come bending and tying, which set the canes in place and encourage the basal buds to break. Young vines are planted in spring, with grafted plants set by machine or by hand, when the soil has dried at the surface and is still moist below.

From mid-May to July the work moves to the canopy. Trellising raises the shoots, topping cuts their ends, desuckering removes unwanted shoots in favour of the main ones, and hand leaf removal exposes the bunches to improve their sunlight and limit grey rot. On the ground, managed natural grassing has become general: the cover holds soil and water and limits nitrate leaching. Against grape moths, mating disruption using pheromones replaces chemical treatment across part of the vineyard.

Three approaches coexist across the vineyards. Reasoned viticulture adjusts treatments to actual disease risk and rests on a qualification framed by a 2002 decree, with checks by certifying bodies. Organic viticulture excludes chemical fertilisers and synthetic pesticides, under a specification approved by the French Ministry of Agriculture and the European Union. Biodynamics, drawing on Rudolf Steiner’s work, pursues the same aims while timing operations to lunar cycles. The opening date of the harvest is set by prefectural order, about a hundred days after mid-flowering.

Spring and summer suit walks in the vineyards and the wine festivals, which cluster in August along the wine route, at Obernai, Colmar or Itterswiller. It is also the period when the night watchman steps out of the Corps de Garde in Turckheim, from May to October, in the evening. The gourmet walks organised along the route complete the programme and let you cross plots usually closed to the public.

Autumn is the harvest season. Grapes destined for crémant are picked first, at the very start of the harvest, when the balance between acidity and sugar suits the second fermentation in bottle. Then come the varieties for still wines. The low rainfall and the autumn sunshine of the vineyards encourage the grapes to dry on the vine and noble rot to develop through Botrytis cinerea.

Late harvest wines and selections of noble berries are picked several weeks after the official harvest. They come from gewurztraminer, pinot gris, riesling or muscat, and follow strict rules: a single variety named on the label, a compulsory vintage, no enrichment, prior declaration and approval after analytical and sensory examination. In winter the town turns to the Christmas events of the Colmar area.