Immersive Cellar Tour - tasting - Kougelhopf to Strasbourg

A Magical Place

We travelled from Strasboug to Gertwiller by train to visit ZEYSSOLFF (tickets were approx. 18E return). The venue is a lovely 10 minutes stroll from the station and picked up easily on Google Maps. We arrived an hour before our tour but were made to feel very welcome and were offered a drink which we were then not charged for as we booked a tour. The tour was fantastic - our guide spoke incredible English and was very knowledgeable - even explaining about the geology of the area and how it impacts the Alace vineyards. I am traditionally a red wine drinker but loved ever one of the wines we tasted (esp the cremant - I will never drink prosecco again!). The history of the family and the business was so interesting - it felt like a very special place to be and understand. The people there are so passionate about what they do and the customer service is outstanding. We stayed and bought lunch there before visiting the gingerbread factory across the road - they very kindly looked after our wine purchases so we didn't have to carry them around. Do not visit Strasbourg without visiting this place - it is magical - I have also converted to white wine... TIPS - if you travel for the day there is literally only Zeyssolf and the gingerbread place - take water and lunch if you do not want to buy it at the cellar tour (they do have a restaurant but menu is quite limited). The wine tastings are very generous (I was very glad to be on the train).

via Tripadvisor

Wines of Alsace

This tour is at a winery in Alsace. Using the regional train from Strasbourg takes about an hour each way when you coordinate the train schedule. The tour guide is knowledgeable and informative.

Response from the operator: Thanks for you comment and see you

via Viator

Highly recommend this unique experience!

We’ve been to many wine tours and this one was the most unique! Friendly guide and owner with amazing history. Lighthearted and informative. Most importantly all the wines were exceptional. Highly recommend!

Response from the operator: Mille mercis à vous et au plaisir de vous revoir !

via Viator

Not the Best Wine Tasting in Alsace

This establishment was chosen by our river cruise line as their choice for the Alsatian Wine Tasting excursion on April 21, while visiting Strasbourg. We were very disappointed with our excursion visit from start to finish. The place we were taken to was not a vineyard but a building in the village Gertwiller. The tasting room host appeared inconvenienced and distracted by our afternoon arrival. We were not taken into a tasting room or a barrel room as one would expect, but escorted into a room with rustic wood benches, some with fur skins, that did not even accommodate all of the touring guests. Additionally, each guest was given one glass to taste four wines. There was no spittoon, no water to cleanse the palate or rinse the glass between wines, no bread or crackers offered between wines. The manner of the host's presentation was short tempered and humorless. He walked away from our group to attend to something and then returned several times. When all of the four wines were finished, we were ushered in a cool dark room, resembling a narrow barrel room, to view a short family history film shown on the walls. This film is available to watch online. That was it. Finally, we exited the designated tasting room area and we were escorted into a wine / souvenir store. We were now given a piece of freshly baked bread as we walked around the retail operation. No one seemed interested in purchasing wine. I enjoyed one of the sparkling wines that was offered; it was the best of the four wines to my taste. The experience was so unimpressive that I am sure it does not reflect the Route des Vins d'Alsace at its best.

Response from the operator: Thank you for your comment, which I think is purely artificial intelligence - it’s a nice mix of different comments received in previous years, especially with some pretty stupid things! I’m going to put things into context in order to restore "the church at the center of the village." To begin with, each vineyard has its own specificities and ours in Alsace has the distinction of not having any wine estates in the vineyards. The vineyard is protected and it is strictly forbidden to build buildings in the vineyards - this is historic, which is why each estate is located in villages. As for the first room, we welcome you in a dark room, since this room serves as a projection room in addition to the reception - the color black is a personal aesthetic choice very present on the Estate. Our approach to viticulture is educational. We do not have a sommelier approach that often loses the audience and in the package ordered by your cruise line, the bread... is not requested. It doesn’t concern anything. We want to democratize the world of wine to as many people, share it with wine lovers and children... That’s why we chose to do the scenography on futs to facilitate our approach - this project is UNIQUE in France!! The film shown is not an ordinary movie that can be found on YouTube, it’s completely false. On the contrary, it is a film that was made by ourselves by telling our family story. We are lucky today to be the 11th generation of winemakers to take over the estate from father to son, which is far from trivial... The fresh piece you mentioned is our cellar dating from 1850, which withstood various wars and has an alignment of 16 barrels made of bicentenary oak, including one made for the 1900 World’s Fair... I have some doubts that you entered our door to make such a statement. Obviously, throughout our trip, you were able to taste 5 wines from our estate commented by one of our guides - sommelier who I think are really very pleasant and at your service. As for the freshly baked piece of bread, it is called kougelhopf, the iconic Alsatian cake. As for the purchases in our shop, it is specific to each one, some buy right away, others order later... I find it quite a shame that you did not enjoy this moment that we like to share with our guests, it’s an opinion, yours and we respect it but in no way reflects all of our opinions: our overall rating speaks for itself...

via Tripadvisor

Informative and fun

Amazing, very informative & in a modern tasting area. We had fun! I just wish there was a tiny bit more to snack on after.

Response from the operator: I thank you for the comment. If needed, for gourmets, we have brunch, Alsatian meal or tea time formulas... Looking forward to seeing you again in Alsace !

via Viator