Fête du Vin Nouveau

The month of September had the wine growers nervous. The month started with sunshine and warmth that was perfect for ripening grapes. Then it turned cold and rained like it did in Noah's days. At this point, the grapes were a week or two away from harvest. If the rain continued, then the harvest could be ruined by mold and rot. If the sun came out and temperatures warmed, then the grapes would start growing again, suck up all the water, and pop open.

In the end, things turned out well. The rain stopped but the days stayed cloudy with cool temperatures. And now, all across Alsace they are harvesting the grapes for the 2006 wine year.

It is traditional, at this time of year, for the wine villages to celebrate the harvest. Many put on a small fair called the Fête du Vin Nouveau, or Festival of the New Wine. On October 15, Theresa and Cindy Eaton and I drove down to Eguisheim to visit their Fête. (That's Theresa in the opening picture with Cindy standing just behind her.) Eguisheim is one of our favorite villages. First reason being that it has so many well-preserved old houses. Second reason being that it has more independent wine makers than any other village of similar size.

Ok....what is the Fête du Vin Nouveau? Well first of all they put up some tents in the town center and sell food and wine. Below is an example of one of the food items, essentially brown bread and raw, smoked bacon. (That's right...you're supposed to eat it uncooked. Only heathens would fry the stuff.) There are other booths selling baked goods and tarte aux prune (fresh plum pie), as shown in the photo below. No village festival would be complete without a band playing music for the people to dance to. We had seen this before in the Fête du Munster (Festival of Stinky Cheese) back in August. The band there was a guy on electric keyboard and another on the accordian. In Eguisheim for the New Wine Festival, the band was a lady on electric keyboard and a guy on electric guitar.There is a reason why most of the music you hear in France is actually American music. The French have a tradition of food and art. But when it comes to the creation modern music, they have a ways to go.