The hike up to this Chateaux was part of the route that Trekkers take from town to town when hiking the Alsace. Our route was shorter and easier than the last. As for the Castle, more of this Structure was left to explore.
I thought about my nephew Steve when I looked down through the narrow "archers window" to the stone walkway below.
On the way up the spiral stairs, I shared the story of the "Sinister Hand" that my friend Mike Kraemer gave me last year. The "Sinister Hand" was the moniker given left handed knights during the High Middle Ages. They were given this name because the spiral staircases in the castles were made with the spirals in the direction that would give advantage to the defenders of the castle (those already occupying the advantageous higher point on the stairs.
However , the direction of the upward spiral provided advantage only against the right handed swordsman. Against the left handed attacker, the advantage was handed over to the attacker, hence, the "Sinister Hand".
More on the "Cremant" the sparkling wine of the Alsace - We bought our bottle of Cremant bottle in neighboring Katzenberg the day before, after tasting it at the Stoeckle' Winery. At the winery we met an engaging couple from Holland. Like most people from Holland, they spoke several languages, including English. When we were all making our sorry attempts at speaking French with the owner, he came to the rescue. He told us he loved speaking English, or any other of the five languages he had learned instead of his native Dutch!
He explained that speaking Dutch was "not so much a language, but a disease of the throat!
When he pronounced Cremant he a chcchhh sound between the c and the r.
More on the Stoeckle' Winery. After struggling with our (lack of ) French, the owner called in his charming 25 year old daughter Fannie from her harvest duties. Fannie is a sincere, engaging young woman who could carry any room with her charm and quick wit !
Fortunately Fannies English was far better than our French! We asked many questions about the wine growing in region !
" Who works the vineyard during harvest? Do you have to bring in workers from elsewhere or are they local?"
There are several varieties of grapes growing in most of the individual wineries vineyards. These varieties of grapes grapes are each ready to pick at different times. So the labor needs are not huge. It is manageable. Our grapes are picked by local persons, but also a great many pensioners (retired people).
I was pretty excited about that. I asked Fannie "so when I retire, I can come work harvesting grapes ?" Her reply was stern. "Yes , but you must first pass a test ".
I asked, is the test difficult?"
"Oui, you must drink two bottles of wine"
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