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For European wine-makers Christmas falls at a good moment. The harvest is over, the wine is made. Even in France’s northern Alsace region where the harvest is a long drawn out business – they call it vendanges a la carte, beginning in September to pick early ripening Muscat, continuing in October with the Rieslings, and finishing in November with the vendanges tardives ie picking the botrytised grapes for their dessert wines - wine-makers can take time off for some good meals with their families. Of all the wine regions, Alsace does Christmas in the most traditional style.
A sprinkling of snow, candles in windows, beribboned evergreen boughs decorating balconies of picturesque old houses, nothing could be prettier than the streets of Colmar at dusk in December.
In five different squares, each with its own atmosphere, wooden stalls are erected to sell artisan made, charming wooden decorations, toys, spiced hot drinks, gingerbread and bredle, little sweet biscuits to hang on the tree.
Specialist food shop windows bulge with gastronomic treats. The celebrated local foie gras, usually served with a fine Late Harvest sweet wine, is sold either fresh or in terrines ready for the festive meals. Then there are the local dried pears, plums and figs, gathered in September before they are overripe, and luscious candied orange and lemon peel - all essential ingredients for Berawecka. No self respecting Alsace family would be without this wonderful fruit and nut laden cake to serve to their visitors with a cup of coffee, a glass of rich but almost dry Gewurztraminer, or maybe a home-made eau-de-vie, during the 12 days of Christmas.
The now famous Christmas markets start at the beginning of December, attracting visitors from all over France, neighbouring Germany and, increasingly, from further afield. But as the Tourist Board cranks up the publicity machine, some local residents are becoming disgruntled. The municipality struggles to keep control as out-of-town traders move in, renting rooms on the high streets in order to claim pavement space for their booths, which sell not–so-typical souvenirs, or, as one local told me, trash. Christmas doner kebabs are definitely seen as a step too far.
The cathedral city of Strasbourg has the biggest market of all, attracting thousands of visitors. It is so popular that German-based terrorists were discovered plotting to blow it up a few years ago. In the pretty town of Riquewihr, at the heart of the local wine trade, a steady stream of well-oiled visitors in reindeer hats and flashing Santa Claus bonnets make it almost impossible for bona fide shoppers to force their way through to the wine-shops, butchers, and bakers supplying their festive fare.
For those in search of the old-fashioned charm of real markets, the village of Kaysersberg is the most traditional, with the household illuminations supplied by the municipality, and trades-people obliged to conform to a colour code for lights. It certainly is lovely but it is a victim of its own success, overwhelmed by visitors. Nearby Eguisheim, another wine village, is perhaps the nicest. Small and user-friendly, housed only in wooden chalets, it offers the best of long established produce, crafts and food. On a frosty morning, with the smell of cinnamon in the air, cheery stall-holders engaging their customers in chat, it feels like another, slower era.
As the wine growers begin to slack off and get ready to party, how are the wines of the new vintage showing? Englishman David Ling, Export director for Hugel, has lived in Alsace for more than 30 years and has his finger on the pulse. The good news is that 2011 was an excellent Alsace vintage.
“It was saved by dreamlike weather from 20 August. It will be the fifth very fine vintage in a row”, he told me.
“Winter and spring were exceptionally dry. Budburst took place normally on 7 April, but as in 2003 the flowering was very early (20 May to 7 June). Immediately after, the weather turned cloudy, cold and damp. Rainfall in June, July and early August was well above average. Summer finally arrived in mid-August, hot and dry (up to 35°C) so sugar levels rose as fast as the acidity fell, but as the first 10 days of September were rainy, hot and humid, we feared the worst. The harvest began on 12 September under ideal conditions. We enjoyed 10 hot days without rain (22 to 26°C). August botrytis turned into September noble rot, enabling us to produce SGN in both Riesling and Gewurztraminer. The vintage was comfortable in size and exceptional in ripeness, even higher than in 2009 and 2010, with average to low acidity, just like in 2009.”
Here’s a recipe for Berawecka (serves 10) from Mme Freudenreich, ace cook and matriarch of a wine making family in Eguisheim – it should help you get into the Christmas spirit, Alsace-style.
500g dried pears
250g pitted prunes
100g walnuts
250g blanched almonds
125g hazelnuts
250g dried figs
12g raisins
a little candied orange and lemon peel
3 pinches of ground cinnamon
a pinch of ground cloves
a small pinch of ground black pepper
a few aniseeds
a pinch of salt
125 g castor sugar
250cl plum eau-de-vie or Kirsch
250 g plain white flour
15g fresh yeast, or half a sachet of quick-action dried yeast.
Method
Simmer the dried pears in enough water to just cover them for about 15 minutes.
Soak the prunes in water so they plump up.
Drain the fruit, keeping the water.
Roughly chop the fruit – pears, prunes and figs – and the nuts (these quite finely) not forgetting the raisins and candied peel. Mix all these ingredients in a bowl with the sugar and spices. Pour over the plum eau-de-vie/Kirsch and leave to macerate for 24 hours, stirring from time to time.
Make a yeast dough by mixing fresh yeast with a little of the water from the pears or prunes in a small bowl. Pour the yeast mixture into a well in the centre of the flour and mix. Stir in a little more of the water you have saved to make the dough. (If using dried quick- action yeast, just add to the flour, and then stir in the water). Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave to rise for one hour in a warm place. Now add the fruit and nut mixture and mix well to incorporate – best done with the hands. Form into long, fat sausage-shaped loaves, decorate the tops with walnuts and almonds and place on a greased baking tray.
Bake in a medium oven for 45 –60 minutes, making sure the tops don’t burn (cover if necessary). While they bake, prepare a sugar syrup. Take them from the oven, brush the tops with this syrup and leave to cool on racks.
Rosi Hanson
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