Colmar's Wine Fair

If there is a wine capital in Alsace, it is Colmar. The city sits at the foot of the Vosges in the middle of the most prolific wine villages and has become a hub for marketing and distribution. Knowing that, I was kind of excited when I saw advertisements for the Colmar Foire du Vins (Wine Fair). Posters were plastered all over advertising the exposition and the daily concerts by "big name" bands of local MTV caliber. The Strasbourg wine fair had been a winner back in February. One would expect that this would be a notch or two higher.

Of course, life has its disappointments.

The Colmar Wine Fair was kind of a cross between the farming pavillion at the Indiana State Fair and the Vigo County Home and Garden Show. Lots of agricultural equipment. Lots of people selling lawn ornaments and mattresses and kitchen gadgets. But not a lot of wine. Actually, it was OK. It's just I went in with the wrong expectations. There were lots of cool, shiny stainless steel gadgets for making wine. (Not home brewing, mind you, but on a comercial scale). Lots of bottling lines and fermentation tanks. Tents with people selling corks by the thousands.

This beauty above is for making champagne. Actually, they can't call it champagne in Alsace so they call it cremant instead. Its purpose is to rotate the bottles to get the sediments to fall into the very tip of the neck. Used to be done by monks by hand. Today, you can by this gizmo to avoid the monks.

Finally, the highlight of any fair is the food. What I like about France is that every fair seems to have at least one Oyster Bar, where about 7 euro gets you a plate of oysters, a basket of bread, and a glass of white wine. Below is a photo of the Oyster Bar offerings at Colmar.