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"Because what you love, you also look at particularly carefully and with a sharp eye". These were the words of the Bundesbanker Thilo Sarrazin after he had just spoken out about his hometown Berlin and the problems of integration. The outrage was great, the reflexes in the political scene worked. Thoughtful Berliners, however, soon admitted that the man was right in large parts of his philippic and that people were simply bashing the bearer of bad news.

Alsace values traditions - to the hilt!

As far as Alsatian wine is concerned, and Alsatian gastronomy, it can be a similar story. Four years ago, I wrote an admittedly critical article on wine from the East of France and published it in the trade magazine Weinwirtschaft.... Still, and despite all the criticism, I like to go shopping, taste wines and eat in Alsace - even if I realise that I will be annoyed. But it is also the region where I gained my first serious gastronomic experience almost 25 years ago, and I love it, the landscape between the Rhine and the Vosges, the Renaissance houses, the Gewürztraminer and the tarte flambée. And it is precisely for this reason that I repeatedly express my regret that the wine scene and gastronomy are stagnating in large parts, that new ideas are rare and winemakers and innkeepers are all too often content with the status quo. It's not as drastic as Thilo Sarrazin, don't worry, but it's still clear.

Offended landlords

So here we go. Into the winstub in Ribeauvillé. Full of tourists and bored waiters. The kir is served silently, the bread is already limp even at noon, the rabbit in mustard sauce just decent. And the Pinot gris, the one served openly? Somehow insignificant, not quite clear on the nose and rather broad on the palate. No question, we are in the eye of the hurricane. I've eaten at Ribeauvillé, the stork-crowned Rappoltsweiler, countless times and never anything but disappointed. And when it comes to Alsace Pinot Gris, which until recently was called Tokay Pinot Gris, I have abandoned all hope of improvement. No grape variety shows so clearly the lack of vinification awareness and ideas. Simple Pinot gris are rather inconsequential, the potentially better ones from Grand Cru sites are mostly slightly sweet and lush, often not very animating and unfortunately in many cases marked by a not quite clean noble rot. You have to swallow a lot of foie gras to stop noticing these flaws. On the way back to the car, I pass a renowned restaurant that I reviewed years ago for a restaurant guide. Quite favourably, by the way, and perhaps even more favourably than the establishment deserved. But because I had inadvertently written the wrong name in the text (a questionnaire sent to collect the data never came back), the landlord complained massively afterwards and threatened to take legal action. Afterwards, one's fingers itched to write a hefty review and describe the Alsatian stork as limping and badly battered.

1971 Gewulaminer - when all was still right with the world in Alsace

At this point, I can hear a friend groaning and objecting that all this is true, but that despite all the shortcomings, you can eat sensationally well in Alsace. For example, in the famous triple-awarded Auberge de l'Ill in Illhaeusern. That may be so. My two visits to this monument of Alsatian gastronomy were enjoyable, but not inspiring. Maybe I went there with too many expectations, maybe the Auberge is suffering a bit from its own success. I remember a big crowd at the door to the terrace and a nervous head sommelier, Serge Dubs, who didn't know what dishes I had ordered when he came to the table: the wine advice was correspondingly incompetent. Maybe I got the Auberge off on the wrong foot (or maybe they got me off on the wrong foot), but I'm not really tempted to visit the temple of gourmet delights under the weeping willows for a third meal.

Muscat as salvation? At least for the guest!

Was everything better in Alsace 25 years ago? Certainly not - age transfigures many things. But it seems to me that many winegrowers and numerous restaurateurs today lack a bit of esprit, self-confidence and vision. Somehow they already notice that local wines are no longer in as much demand in the world as they used to be. And that you can now also eat well on the other side of the border, in the Kaiserstuhl or in Ortenau. German innkeepers report with broad grins that for some years now they have increasingly been welcoming Alsatian customers who steal across the Rhine and rejoice at the commitment and the good value for money. Only when it comes to wine, the East French remain loyal to their homeland and first of all mouth off at the mention of Baden wines. If you ask them about the increasing sweetness in Alsatian Pinot gris, Gewürztraminer and even Riesling, they just shrug their shoulders. "C'est le changement du climat," they then exclaim with glee. Spätlese, Beerenauslese and comparable rarities are now the order of the day, exceptional vintages like 1971 are now falling from the sky, and this must be exploited. An upside-down world: what the Germans were reproached for 20 years ago, i.e. for aiming for must weights, is now practised by the Alsatians.

Grapes no longer fresh in Alsace

But the Alsace traveller need not despair. After all, there are at least two to three handfuls of winegrowers who swim against the tide and distinguish themselves with complex, mineral wines that are not broadly sweet. Unfortunately, they are the same ones who caused trouble at the end of the 90s: Marc Kreydenweiss, André Kientzler, Frédéric Mochel or Jean-Michel Deiss. If you don't spot these names on the Winstub menu, order a Muscat (almost always dry and crisp) to be on the safe side, ask for the cooperative wines from Pfaffenheim (more than reliable since time immemorial) or order a bottle of Crémant. And the food to go with it? You can get it after all, and sometimes exactly where no one expects it. In the inconspicuous Marlenheim, where the famous Cerf sometimes cooks down-to-earth, sometimes experimental dishes. Or in the middle of bustling Riquewihr, where the Sarment d'Or restaurant defies tourist temptations. And of course a few kilometres further on, in the Table Alsacienne of Ingersheim Here as there, they cook as they used to - with good products and great commitment. Foie gras up and down, entrecote saignant and veal kidneys, chocolate mousse and crème brûlée. In both gastronomic cases, the wine lists are sensationally stocked, the waiters amiable to a fault and the prices restrained. More restrained than ever, because many dishes have been explicitly reduced in price after the state lowered the VAT. No one has any culinary visions here, and the décor could do with some freshening up: But if Alsatian gastronomy were to take a cue from such addresses and the winegrowers were to get into the habit of not leaving their Pinot gris grapes hanging in the vineyard until the last possible day, a lot would be gained. As we all know, hope dies at the very end, and the Alsatian stork may be limping badly, but it is still alive...

Recommendable Alsace winegrowers:

Frédéric Mochel, 56, rue principale, F-67310 Traenheim, tel. 00333/88503867, www.mochel.net

Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss, 12, rue Deharbe, F-67140 Andlau, Tel. 00333/88089583, www.kreydenweiss.com

Domaine Andre Kientzler, 50, route de Bergheim, F-68150 Ribeauvillé, Tel. 00333/89736710

Recommended Alsace restaurants

Le Cerf, 30, rue du Général de Gaulle, F-67520 Marlenheim, tel. 00333/88877373, www.lecerf.com

Sarment d'Or, 4, rue du Cerf, F-68340 Riquewihr, tel. 00333/89860286, www.riquewihr-sarment-dor.com

Taverne Alsacienne, 99 rue de la République, F-68040 Ingersheim, Tel. 00333/89270841, www.tavernealsacienne-familleguggenbuhl.com

d'Brendelstub, 48, rue du Général de Gaulle, F-68340 Riquewihr, tel. 00333/89865454, www.jlbrendel.com

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