Alsace: Triumph Over Adversity

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IMAGE © FOTOLIA

Riquewihr, at the heart of the Alsatian vineyards, is named among the Most Beautiful Villages of France

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IMAGE © FOTOLIA

Riquewihr, at the heart of the Alsatian vineyards, is named among the Most Beautiful Villages of France

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ALSACE Triumph Over Adversity The region of France with the most tumultuous history is also that which produces some of its very best wines. Jeffrey T Iverson heads east ❯❯

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M

ost oenophiles agree that complexity is the sine qua non of great wine. When flavours, aromas, acidity and texture coalesce in a single sip, creating a millefeuille of transporting sensations, wine becomes something more than just a beverage. It becomes a medium for storytelling. And sometimes that complexity isn’t confined to the glass, but spills over an entire wine region. So it is in Alsace, home to perhaps France’s most enigmatic wines.

Though it is France’s smallest region, no other can claim such diverse geology, a veritable mosaic of soils from different eras of earth’s history. This constellation of terroirs is planted with multiple grape varieties, vinified in myriad styles. Add a lexicon and culture influenced by neighbouring Germany and Switzerland, and you have wines that can intimidate even ardent lovers of French tipple. Never tried a Boxler Edelzwicker from Niedermorschwihr? You’re not alone.

“This pretty enclave of fairy-tale villages in the lee of the forested Vosges mountains,” writes critic Jancis Robinson, “is one of the great, under-appreciated treasures of the wine world.”

A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING

IMAGES © FOTOLIA, JT IVERSON

Yet the key to appreciating Alsace wines isn’t a primer in grape varietals or vinification styles – though those can be helpful. Rather, it is a deeper understanding of the history of this remarkable region, coveted and warred over across millennia for its fertile land and strategic location at the heart of Europe. “If you don’t know the history of Alsace, it’s impossible to understand its wines,” says Claude Muller, director of

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For centuries, wine flooded out of the ports of Strasbourg and Colmar. “Thanks to the rivers Ill and Rhine, Alsatians were able to sell their barrels by boat throughout the Holy Roman Empire, and also to Belgium, the Netherlands, England, Sweden, Poland and Russia,” says Muller. Reminders of that lucrative trade still abound, such as La Maison des Têtes in Colmar. Today housing a chic hotel and Michelinstarred restaurant, this breathtaking Renaissance mansion built in 1609 remains the property of the Colmar Wine Exchange. In Strasbourg, a remarkable wine heritage site remains in the cellars of the Hospices de Strasbourg, founded in 1395.

Situated in the medieval basements of the city hospital, the cellars exist thanks to centuries of donations of wines and vineyards by winemakers.

Today, it’s also a museum featuring ancient sculpted wood barrels, a 17th-century wine press, and the oldest white wine still in barrel on earth, dating back to 1472.

Located near the river, the cellars were within easy reach of the docks where two massive wooden cranes were built in the 14th century to load wine barrels. The cranes were then as great a claim to fame for Strasbourgeois as their cathedral, whose north tower, completed in 1439, was the world’s tallest building for more than 200 years. “At the heart of the city you ❯❯

“THOUGH ALSACE IS FRANCE’S SMALLEST REGION, NO OTHER CAN CLAIM SUCH DIVERSE GEOLOGY, A VERITABLE MOSAIC OF SOILS” the Institute of Alsatian History at the University of Strasbourg. For oenophiles ready to make the leap and explore Alsace and its tumultuous history, there are rich rewards in store. As Wine Enthusiast magazine so succinctly put it: “The challenges faced by vineyards and winemakers in this region have resulted in bottlings that may be France’s – and potentially the world’s – best wine.”

Claude Muller has spent decades researching the history of Alsatian wine. In his eyes, one of the most pivotal dates in the region’s history was 1648, the year France, at the conclusion of the Thirty Years’ War, annexed Alsace. Since around 1000 AD, Alsace had been part of the Holy Roman Empire. “Before 1648, Alsatian wine was extremely sought-after and wellregarded,” says Muller, author of the Dictionnaire des Vins d’Alsace and Alsace: Une Civilisation de la Vigne. “But its status was thanks to geography.”

Situated in the Rhine river plain, Alsace is sheltered from moist west winds by the Vosges mountains, such that the only place drier in France is Perpignan, on the Spanish border. With enough sunlight to guarantee grape ripeness almost every season, Alsace under the Holy Roman Empire represented a kind of balmy Riviera for northern and eastern Europe, whose thirst for Alsatian wine proved unquenchable.

Clockwise from main image: Strasbourg’s historic city centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site; La Maison des Têtes, Colmar; Strasbourg Cathedral; oak barrels at Domaine ZindHumbrecht; the hills can be hard to farm, but they also give Alsace its unusually dry climate; traditional dancing in Strasbourg

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“IN 1977, THIS PERILOUSLY STEEP SITE WAS ALL BUT ABANDONED – YET RANGEN HAD BEEN THE MOST WIDELY WRITTEN ABOUT VINEYARD OF THE MIDDLE AGES”

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Clos Saint-Urbain, Rangen de Thann Grand Cru – the most southerly of Alsace’s vineyards

IMAGE © NORBERT HECHT

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find the two most important places in Strasbourg,” notes Muller. “On one side you had wine, on the other religion – le vin et le divin.”

Wine’s sacred nature is still on display in many Alsatian towns. “Each of these beautiful villages you encounter along the Alsace wine route had its glory days, from Thann to Turckheim, Obernai to Marlenheim,” says Muller. Winemakers gave thanks for their successes to Saint Urbain, patron saint of vignerons, whose statues are omnipresent. In sculptures of Mary with baby Jesus at churches like Saint-Martin de Colmar and Kientzheim, the holy child is depicted holding a grape bunch. One 15th-century sculpture in the chapel of Saint-Nicolas de Haguenau depicts the figure of Jesus crucified inside a wine press, an extraordinary metaphor for Christian Eucharist.

Top and above: Situated on the Alsace Wine Route between Strasbourg and Mulhouse, picturesque Colmar is, after those two towns, the largest commune in the region

IMAGES © JT IVERSON

RELIGIOUS WAR Unfortunately, religion also caused misery. Olivier Humbrecht, owner of Domaine Zind-Humbrecht, today based in Turckheim, traces his ancestry back to the Thirty Years’ War, which devastated the region in the 17th century. “After decades of religious war, with Alsace right in the middle, the region was ransacked, people died from famine and disease, and the population of a village like Turckheim was reduced to only a dozen people,” he says. “The whole area was repopulated, not only by surviving families, but by migration from all around Europe.”

As the Alsatian people changed, so did their wine.

“The diversity of Alsatian wines, still evident today, is a

“IN SCULPTURES OF MARY WITH BABY JESUS, THE HOLY CHILD IS DEPICTED HOLDING A GRAPE BUNCH” reflection of this land – divided, fragmented, and traversed by myriad soldiers and myriad histories,” says Muller. “If Alsace hadn’t had such a troubled history, there wouldn’t have been estates that were owned by hundreds of different lords over relatively short periods, planting and replanting vineyards. I’ve tried to count the number of grape varietal names cited in historic archives, and it passed 300.” It’s a stark contrast to a relatively cloistered region like Burgundy, which is characterised by centuries of land organisation and strict grape varietal selection.

The differences between Alsace and such famous wine regions were brought into stark relief once Louis XIV acquired Alsace. “When Alsace was part of Germany, it was the southernmost wine region of the Empire,” explains Muller. “When, in 1648, Alsace became French, it became a northern wine region. So, in people’s minds, a region of sun and warmth became a region of ice and snow.” Severed from its former market, Alsace failed to conquer the saturated French market. “As the wines of Alsace were no longer sold in northern Europe, and couldn’t break through in France, the region slowly collapsed.” Continued ❯❯

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“IN 1962, ALSACE WAS OFFICIALLY BROUGHT INTO THE FRENCH WINE FOLD WITH THE CREATION OF THE ALSACE AOC LABEL”

Clockwise from main image: The village of Kaysersberg, one of the finest wine growing areas in Alsace; the Domaine Zind-Humbrecht in Turckheim; Olivier and Léonard Humbrecht

warring with Germany made matters worse, as Alsatians changed nationality four times between 1870 and 1945.

Alsace emerged from World War II shattered and disorganised. In 1951, only 6,600 hectares of vineyards remained in Alsace, one-fifth of what had existed 200 years earlier. But, at long last, peace had come to the region. The founding of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and the creation of the Common Market heralded prosperity. In 1962, Alsace was officially brought into the French wine fold with the creation of the Alsace AOC label. Soon after, the renaissance of Alsatian wine truly began. “Around fifty years ago, a group of winemakers, including Olivier’s father, Léonard, started to reflect on their struggles,” says Muller. “They adopted a number of measures which made Alsace what it is today – the region producing perhaps the greatest white wines in the world.”

While much of the modern wine world was adopting mechanised viticulture and chemical fertiliser to achieve high yields, and fermentations with laboratory yeasts in steel vats to yield quick-to-bottle, easydrinking wines, these pioneers chose another path.

“They started to argue in favour of dropping yields, often by more than half,” says Muller. “They’d make less wine, but of higher quality.” They returned to traditional Alsatian wood casks, vinifying without chemical intervention, letting their wines mature on

their lees for months to develop complex aromas. They greeted the promises of pesticide salesmen with scepticism, and earned Alsace its reputation as the wine region most dedicated to sustainable, organic and biodynamic agriculture in France. “My dad never got swept up in this great chemical wave,” says Béatrice Binner of Domaine Christian Binner in Ammerschwihr.

“He made wine with grapes, period. In those days, it wasn’t labelled organic or biodynamic. Our ancestors already figured out so much.”

ALSACE GRAND CRU But that generation’s greatest feat was not just resurrecting their ancestors’ methods, but also their vineyards. In 1975, the designation Alsace Grand Cru was created and, over the next decade, winemakers proposed sites deemed worthy of the status. “These winemakers decided to start researching places where vines had been grown in the past, but which had been abandoned in favour of the easily cultivated valley and plains,” says Muller. “The 51 vineyard sites that have since been named Grand Crus were already known to make the highest quality wines in the Middle Ages.”

Take the Rangen Grand Cru in Thann, where Léonard Humbrecht bought the Clos Saint-Urbain vineyard in 1977. At the time, the perilously steep site, made up of volcanic rocks and sedimentary sandstones, was all but abandoned. “Nobody wanted it,” says

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AN ALSACE WINE PRIMER

There is a great variety of wines from Alsace, but here are the basics you need to know

Though it is France’s smallest region, no other boasts such diverse vineyard soils: granite, limestone, schist, clay, gravel, chalk, loess, sandstone… A mosaic of terroirs, planted with more than seven different grapes, for multiple wine styles! But it is dry Riesling which truly epitomises the Alsatian character. Unlike sweet German and New World versions, here Riesling exudes brilliant acidity coupled with rich texture, moderate alcohol, vibrant aromas without new oak, and a long mineral finish. It’s everything we love about Alsatian wine.

IMAGES © CRTA / ZVARDON, ROBERT DIDIERJEAN

THE GRAPES Alsace has four “noble” varieties – Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris and Muscat – all producing richly aromatic white wines. Pinot Blanc and Sylvaner produce pleasant, everyday whites. Pinot Noir makes

light red or rosé wines. Auxerrois and Chardonnay may be in sparkling crémant.

THE STYLES Most Alsace wines are dry, single varietal wines, labelled by grape.

Edelzwicker or Gentil denotes a light-bodied, blended wine. Sparkling crémants also may be blends. Vendange Tardive wine can be dry or sweet. Sélection de Grains Nobles, wines from noble rot grapes, are sweet and complex.

MEAL PAIRINGS To each course its wine.

Apéritif: a sparkling crémant or a fragrant dry Muscat. Hors d’œuvres of charcuterie or seafood: a refreshing Sylvaner. Main course: undoubtedly Riesling, Pinot Gris or Pinot Noir.

Cheese or pastries: a perfumed, full-bodied, dry or sweet Gewürztraminer.

Muller. “Yet Rangen was the most widely written about vineyard in the Middle Ages.” When his Clos SaintUrbain Vendange Tardive Riesling was awarded a perfect 100-point score by wine critic Robert Parker for the 1994 vintage, for Humbrecht it was as much recognition of the achievements of Alsatians from centuries ago as it was for his own.

“What we are today is defined by what we were in the past," says Humbrecht. And what Alsace has always been is complex. Where else are there estates like Domaine Rolly Gassmann in Rorschwihr, with 52 hectares of vines organised into 21 distinct types of terroir, producing more than 60 different wines? “The geology of Alsace is as tumultuous as its history,” says Muller. But that shouldn’t intimidate wine lovers. “This diversity is at once a treasure for Alsace and a challenge,” he adds. “But that paradox is the key to understanding Alsatian wine.” So, visit one of the Most Beautiful Villages of France, like Riquewihr, and sit down to an immersive, fascinating tour of Alsace wine in the tasting rooms of Hugel & Fils. Visit the Museum of Alsatian Vineyards and Wine in Kientzheim. Stay in a vineyard B&B at a biodynamic estate like Vignoble Klur. Try different wine pairings at a family restaurant like Au Cerf d’Or in Strasbourg, a relaxed winstub bistrot like Sézanne in Colmar, or a renowned threestar restaurant like Auberge de l’Ill. Complexity never tasted so good! FT ❯❯ Jun/Jul 2018 FRANCE TODAY ❘ 43

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Alsace produces some of the most distinctive wines of France, and some of them are very good indeed

For more on the wines of France visit www.francetoday .com/wine_and_ spirits

DOMAINE ZINDHUMBRECHT,TURCKHEIM Created in 1959 from the union of two families with 17th-century winemaking roots, today ZindHumbrecht is managed by Olivier Humbrecht, France’s first ever Master of Wine. www.zindhumbrecht.fr

DOMAINE WEINBACH, KIENTZHEIM Weinbach translates as ‘River of Wine,’ and this ‘river’ flows through an estate at the foot of the majestic Schlossberg (‘Castle Hill’). Famous for its Grand Cru Riesling, its wines were first mentioned as far back as 1363. www.domaineweinbach.com

DOMAINE TRIMBACH, RIBEAUVILLE The wines of Domaine Trimbach are Alsace’s most aristocratic, defined by elegance, balance and purity. Now run by the twelfth generation of the family, the label is known internationally for quality and constancy. www.trimbach.fr

DOMAINE ALBERT MANN, WETTOLSHEIM In 2012 La Revue du vin de France named Maurice and Jacky Barthelmé – the progressive, exacting owners of this fine estate – winemakers of the year. Jacky works in the cellar, while Maurice manages the vineyard. www.albertmann.com

DOMAINE MARCEL DEISS, BERGHEIM Jean-Michel Deiss sublimates his terroir with organic viticulture, oenological innovation and zeal. For wine critic Robert Parker, “no one argues the case for terroir more passionately than Marcel Deiss.” www.marceldeiss.com

DOMAINE OSTERTAG, EPFIG Usually, Bas-Rhin wines are lighter than those of the Haut-Rhin, but rules don’t apply to André Ostertag, who classifies his thrilling wines based on their dominant character: fruit, stone, or time (noble rot). He may even use new oak barrels.

Tel: +33 (0)3 88 85 51 34

DOMAINE MARC KREYDENWEISS, ANDLAU The Kreydenweiss family embraced biodynamic viticulture decades ago to produce terroir-driven, age-worthy wines. Marc’s son Antoine continues to create wines of consummate concentration and complexity. www.kreydenweiss.com

DOMAINE PIERRE FRICK, PFAFFENHEIM Farming organically since 1970, few winemakers are as committed to their land’s health as Pierre Frick. He shows equal respect in the cellar, shunning chaptalisation, using natural yeasts, and letting wines lie on their fine lees. www.pierrefrick.com

DOMAINE BINNER, AMMERSCHWIHR The Binner estate includes prestigious Kaefferkopf Grand Cru plots and century-old vines. Tradition and innovation, chemical-free viticulture and no filtering or sulphites make Binner’s pure expressions of terroir. www.alsace-binner.com

DOMAINE ALBERT BOXLER, NIEDERMORSCHWIHR Jean Boxler’s grandfather was the first to bottle wine under his family label.

Since then, the estate has become known for some of the most intensely structured and longest-lived wines – and the best Pinot Gris – in Alsace.

Tel. +33 (0)3 89 27 11 32

HUGEL & FILS, RIQUEWIHR The Hugel family pioneered the reintroduction of late harvest wines in the 20th century, and today their sweet Vendange Tardive and Sélection de Grains Nobles bottlings, like their dry wines, rank among the region’s very finest. www.hugel.com

DOMAINE ROLLY GASSMANN, RORSCHWIHR Rorschwihr’s wines were first noted in 742 AD, yet it still has no Grands Crus.

Why? Because the commune refused to divide their tapestry of 21 soil types into large plots. Gassmann wines are paragons of terroir complexity.

Tel.+33 (0)3 89 73 63 28

IMAGES © LEIF CARLSSON, JT IVERSON

TWELVE ICONIC WINE ESTATES

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THINGS TO SEE AND DO IN ALSACE We highlight some of the more popular activities, attractions and places to visit

For more on what to see and do in Alsace visit www.tourismealsace.com

CHRISTMAS MARKETS

The enchanting Alsatian tradition of the Christmas market began in 1570 with Strasbourg’s Christkindelsmärik, one of the largest of its kind in Europe. www.noel.strasbourg.eu SPORTS

If you prefer small, family-orientated ski resorts, try the Alsatian Vosges.

The area has 170 ski lifts and 1,000km of marked trails. www.tourismealsace.com/en/skiing-vosges Adventure sports lovers will find many extraordinary sensations in the Hautes-Vosges. With its magnificent scenery, the area is great for paragliding and rock climbing. www.high-vosges-of-alsace.com

Cycling, or walking, is a great way to discover the vineyards of Alsace

Alsace is famed across Europe for its exuberant Christmas celebrations and excellent winter sports facilities MUSEUMS

Le Musée Militaire Park is a new WWII museum in La Wantzenau containing the collection of Éric Kauffmann, one of the most important in Europe, and the Sussex 1944 collection of Dominique Soulier, which used to be at the Musée du Pays de la Zorn in Hochfelden. www.mmpark.fr La Bibliothèque Humaniste in Sélestat is, with Strasbourg Cathedral and the Isenheim Altarpiece in Colmar, one of the three great treasures of Alsace. Comprising the Library of the Humanist School and the Library of Beatus Rhenanus, it is a working academic research establishment but is open to visitors. www.selestat.fr

SHOPPING

Le Parc de Wesserling is a private garden in Husseren-Wesserling classified as one of the Notable Gardens of France. It comprises formal French gardens, an English park, a kitchen garden, a field garden, and a contemporary statuary garden. www.parc-wesserling.fr

Printemps Strasbourg offers a 12 per cent tourist discount for non-EU shoppers spending €175 or more. Buy Lancel and Longchamp leather goods, spring jewellery, luxury perfumes, designers’ corner and readyto-wear brands like Sandro and Maje. www.printemps.com/magasins/ strasbourg

Le Château du HautKœnigsbourg is a 12th-century castle that was abandoned in 1633 after being besieged and burned by Swedish troops, and restored in 1899 by the Prussian emperor Wilhelm II. www.haut-koenigsbourg.fr

Formigolf, which is based in Colmar, offers golfing holidays around the world and has several options in its home region of Alsace. Visit the website to discover the region’s hotels and courses. www.formigolf.fr

Charlemagne spent Christmas 775 at Le Château de Kintzheim. The current, 12th-century castle survives as the home of La Volerie des Aigles, a sanctuary for endangered birds of prey. www.oleriedesaigles.com Le Château du Haut-Barr was built in 1100 on a ridge 460m above the Valley of Zorn and is known as the Eye of Alsace for its control over the pass below. www.tourisme-saverne.fr

The 170km Route des Vins d’Alsace from Thann to Marlenheim was inaugurated in 1953 with a car rally. Today, drivers take their time through its villages and vineyards. www.la-route-des-vins-alsace.com WINE TOURISM

SCENIC ROUTES

There are many places to try the local wine, but do visit Hugel et Fils’s large Winetasting Room in Riquewihr, www.hugel.com or take a tour of the region with www.parenthesevigneronne.com

La Route des Crêtes, along the ridge of the Vosges mountains, was once the Franco-German border.

Today, it’s a drive through the clouds.

For those without a car, a shuttle service runs in July and August. www.navettedescretes.com

There are wine festivals across Alsace, from the traditional village wine fair every spring in Ammerschwihr to Colmar’s major summertime event, the Foire aux Vins d’Alsace. www.foire-colmar.com

CHÂTEAUX

Standing at 800m above sea level, Haut-Kœnigsbourg Castle offers extraordinary views

IMAGES © FOTOLIA, TOURSIME EN ALSACE, JT IVERSON

Cycling from vineyard to village is the perfect way to discover France’s smallest region. There are 2,500km of bicycle trails from north to south and from the Vosges to the Rhine. www.cyclinginalsace.com

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For more hotels and restaurants in Alsace visit www.francetoday .com

WHERE TO STAY AND EAT IN ALSACE The best restaurants and hotels in the region, plus some hidden secrets only the locals know about RESTAURANTS

Maison Kammerzell Strasbourg’s most beautiful house is also a historic restaurant, and the best place in town to enjoy sauerkraut. www.maison-kammerzell.com Au Pont Corbeau A quintessential winstub, and bastion of authenticity, warmth and charm in Strasbourg, offering superb traditional Alsatian cuisine and wines.

Tel. +33 (0)3 88 35 60 68 Sézanne A tiny winstub bistro above a Colmar delicatessen serving Alsatian charcuterie, foie gras, escargots, Munster cheese pie, rhubarb tart and 350 fine wines. www.sezanne.net Restaurant L’Épicurien After a UK stint with Gordon Ramsay, chef Nicolas Groell returned to Colmar to launch his smash-hit bistro offering contemporary Alsatian cuisine. www.epicurien-colmar.com Restaurant Sondernach Ried This farmhouse inn deep in the Munster Valley is a celebration of Alsatian mountain cuisine, its set menu drawing entirely from local ingredients. www.sondernachried.fr

Hohenburg Abbey at Mont Sainte-Odile is named after the patron saint of Alsace and is said to have been founded by her father

Michelin-starred dining. www.lechambard.fr La Haute Grange A luxury B&B set in a 19thcentury farmhouse overlooking a verdant valley at Fréland. www. chambrescharmealsace.com The dining room of Auberge Frankenbourg in La Vancelle opens onto gardens

The three-Michelin-starred Auberge de l’Ille at Illhaeusern, an Alsatian institution

L’Auberge de l’Ill in Illhaeusern has retained its three Michelin stars since 1967, longer than anyone except the recently departed Paul Bocuse. www.auberge-de-l-ill.com La Table du Gourmet A Michelin-starred restaurant in Riquewihr with contemporary décor and creative cuisine of vibrant colours and flavours. www.jlbrendel.com Auberge Frankenbourg A restaurant run by two brothers acclaimed for their sublime dishes of mushrooms, foie gras and pigeon. www.frankenbourg.com

La Vallée is a half-timbered farmhouse surrounding a courtyard decorated with flowers at the edge of Kuttolsheim. www.francetoday.com/ listings/la-vallee An environmental hotel and spa nestled in a valley, Le Saint Barnabas is just five minutes from Guebwiller-Buhl. www.francetoday. com/listings/le-saint-barnabe-hotelrestaurant-spa Cour du Corbeau This 16th-century Strasbourg inn has been carefully refurbished as a fourstar hotel. www.cour-corbeau.com Le Chambard A luxurious, four-star family-run hotel and spa in Kaysersberg, with two-

Hostellerie de la Pommeraie A charming hotel on the site of a former Cistercian abbey in Sélestat with two restaurants and vineyards. www.relaischateaux.com Château d’Osthoffen A 12th-century castle renovated as a stately yet cosy four-star B&B. www.chateau-dosthoffen.com

HOTELS

La Haute Grange is the perfect place to relax and unwind just a short drive from the highlights of Alsace: Riquewihr, Kaysersberg, Colmar and the Vosges mountains. www.lahautegrange.fr

Mont Sainte-Odile Hotel and restaurant on a hilltop in the Vosges renowned as a pilgrimage site. www.mont-sainte-odile.com

The 16th-century Cour du Courbeau stands at the heart of Strasbourg

La Ferme de la Fontaine An 18th-century farm B&B at Fouchy, near the Ballon des Vosges nature park. la-ferme-de-la-fontaine.com

ALSACE ESSENTIALS

BY TRAIN There are TGV stations in Strasbourg, Colmar and Mulhouse. TER express regional trains link the region’s main towns north to south, such as Strasbourg, Sélestat, Colmar, Mulhouse and Saint-Louis.

Alsace

BY CAR • Paris-Strasbourg by A4 – 500km • Marseille-Strasbourg by A7 – 820km • Brussels-Strasbourg by E411 and A4 – 440km

BY PLANE Basel-Mulhouse airport in Upper-Alsace and Strasbourg airport in Lower Alsace.

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