Tag Archives: Gîtes de la Maison Vigneronne

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Ribeauvillé trois… Pt. 1

Last week, Bill told me he wanted to get away for Veteran’s Day weekend.  However, because he started his job with a new company back in late July, he’s still pretty short on vacation time.  I didn’t want to go away for just two nights, so Bill arranged to take off work two hours early on Thursday.  I knew that meant we’d need to stay close to Stuttgart.

I went to Booking.com and realized that our favorite apartments in Ribeauvillé were wide open this weekend.  At 365 euros for a three bedroom pet friendly apartment right in the thick of town, the price was right.  It takes three hours or less to get to this part of Alsace from our home in Unterjettingen.  So, although we’ve now been to Alsace three times in 2017, I decided to book Ribeauvillé again.  This place is beginning to feel like a second home to us!

Bill got home from work at about 3:45.  It was dark and cloudy and I knew it wouldn’t be long before it was downright dismal outside.  The drive to wine country is usually very beautiful, but not at this time of year.  Nevertheless, we arrived less than three hours later.  Yannick, the guy who owns the apartments we use, has a system where he gives you a code and you can get the keys to your place yourself.  His place is also next to a large, free parking lot.  It couldn’t be more convenient.

We unloaded our stuff in the apartment… the same one we used when we were here back in February.  We have also stayed in one of Yannick’s smaller apartments.

Cozy little place in town… tiny dining room, but charming food.

Once we settled in, Bill and I ventured out to dinner at D’baecka Ofa Stub, a small restaurant on the main drag through town.  There were only a few people eating when we walked in.  French pop music played in the dining room, including a very odd dance cover of the Chris Isaak’s hit, “Wicked Game”.  I decided to have duck with honey sauce and frites.  Bill had a type of local ravioli made with celery, carrots, and onions.  My dinner was delicious and I ended up taking half of it back to the apartment.  I will probably finish it tonight, since we’re a little ready to wind down.

Storks are a thing here.

Bill checks out the menu while we snack on pretzels…

This duck was delicious.  It came with a huge bowl of frites.  I liked that they put the sauce on the side.  The white stuff is cauliflower, which I can take or leave.  That duck was so good.  I noticed several locals seem to love this place and it’s very friendly and charming waiter, who spoke German to us the whole time.

Bill enjoyed his dish, too.  Don’t ask me to name it…  It was basically ravioli done French style, with carrots, celery, and onions.  We shared a bottle of locally produced Riesling, too.  Riesling is widely produced in this part of France.  I used to think I hated Rieslings, but that’s only because I drank California’s version, which is too sweet for my tastes.

 

Back in the 90s, I waited tables in a nice restaurant in Williamsburg, Virginia.  I wasn’t a wine drinker then and didn’t know much about it.  I used to hate it when people would ask me for suggestions because I was so ignorant.  I remember one time, a couple asked me for a recommendation of a Riesling.  I said I didn’t like Rieslings  because I thought they were too sweet.  They proceeded to rip me a new one for saying that Rieslings are sweet.  Naturally, they knew more about wine than I did at the time.  Anyway, allow me to say that I’m now a fan, especially of the Rieslings that come from Germany and France.  I used to hate German wine, too, but that has changed.

This cake was calling me like a beacon.  I made room for it.  Good thing Bill and I shared it.

After dinner, we shared a local style Black Forest cake that was slightly different from what we’ve found in Germany.  The bottom didn’t have the cookie crust or Kirschwasser.  It was all chocolate, very light, and delicious.  Our waiter was very entertaining.  I’d probably go back for him alone, although the duck was also fantastic.

Ribeauvillé is the kind of place where the sidewalks roll up early, especially during the off season.  After dinner, we made our way back to the apartment and went to bed nice and early.  It was great to be back!

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Running away to Ribeauville, France… part one (apartment review)

A couple of weeks ago, my husband Bill told me he wanted to get away for the long Martin Luther King holiday weekend.  Although there are a lot of places we’d like to go, we were somewhat hampered by the fact that our dogs, Zane and Arran, would have to come with us.  Our regular pet boarder was full.  That would mean wherever we went would need to be dog friendly and close enough to drive to conveniently.

Last July, we took an overnight trip to Riquewihr, which is a picturesque little village in Alsatian wine country.  I had noticed charming Ribeauville on the way there.  I also remembered how extremely pet friendly Riquewihr is.  With that in mind, I went searching on Booking.com for a “gite” in Ribeauville.  Actually, I looked for gites in Eguisheim first, but didn’t find anything that met our needs.  I chose Gîtes de la Maison Vigneronne, au Coeur de Ribeauvillé.

We enjoyed a very nice drive to France, taking a slightly different route than we usually do.  Although the weather was forecasted to be snowy, it hadn’t really started coming down during our drive.  It wasn’t until just until we got over the French border than the snow got to be noticeable.  Below are some photos I took on the drive to France.

Yannick, the guy who runs Gîtes de la Maison Vigneronne, au Coeur de Ribeauvillé, had told us we could check in after three o’clock.  Since he also works a different job, he said he’d meet us after six o’clock.  He gave us directions for getting the key to the apartment, which allowed us to check in slightly earlier than we meant to.  You just punch in a code by the gate and collect the key by yourself.  There is free parking near the apartments, so we found a spot and unloaded.  It was no problem whatsoever.

We rented “Pinot Noir”, which is one of the four apartments Yannick has.  It’s a one bedroom apartment with stone walls.  I noticed the other one near us was called Gewurtztraminer.  It was rented by a couple of American ladies who showed up Saturday, but we neither saw nor heard them.

One thing I loved about Yannick’s apartment was that it was very pet friendly.  I never felt like I had to be especially careful in the apartment.  When Yannick came by to meet us, he made it clear that he’s a dog lover.  If we go back to Ribeauville, we will rent from him again.  I would recommend his places to anyone who needs a place that is especially pet friendly.  Yannick also didn’t take the 300 euro deposit Booking.com said we’d need.  He said he trusted us.  He also left us a nice bottle of local wine.

A gift from our host.

We even had a Christmas tree!

A washing machine if you need one, although there is no dryer.  There is a drying rack.

Bathroom sink.

Rainfall shower.

Living area.

 

Kitchen (part of the living area).  There’s a table for four, a microwave, oven, stove top, refrigerator, and dishwasher.  It was well stocked with cooking and eating utensils.  I didn’t get a photo of the bedroom, but it had a king sized bed that was surprisingly comfortable.

Little courtyard in front of the apartment.

 

My only big complaint about the apartment was that it was really cold in there at first.  Yannick had turned the heat on, but no one had used the apartment recently, so due to the stone walls, it was pretty chilly in there when we first arrived.  It took several hours for the apartment to heat up after we put the heat on the highest setting.  If you are tempted to rent this apartment during the off season in winter, I recommend bringing warm clothes.

The little alleyway that leads to the main drag through the village.  The apartment is maybe fifty meters from town.  There’s a bakery and a small supermarket very close.  There are also lots of restaurants, although many were closed over the weekend because the proprietors had gone on holiday.

We spent about $360 to rent the apartment for three nights.  I thought that was a fair price.  And again, Yannick is super laid back and loves dogs.  He made ours feel very welcome.  Yannick has a couple of studio apartments, as well as a three bedroom one that sleeps six.

As we were leaving this morning, Yannick showed up.  He was going to get the Christmas tree.  He bid us a cheery farewell and the dogs gave him kisses.  Seriously… if you have dogs and want to go to France, look up Yannick.

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