Nick Maddock

Review of SmoothRed

Our recent visit to Colmar in Alsace was our third...

Our recent visit to Colmar in Alsace was our third trip with Smoothred, after the Northern Rhone and Beaujolais for the nouveau festival in the past couple of years - and it was the best yet. The wines of Alsace offer great variety including some outstanding Rieslings and Pinot Noirs - and our guide, Pieter, managed to get us into grand crus wineries for private tastings of their collections. We also managed to time our trip for the first weekend of the (five!) Christmas markets in Colmar, and Smoothred found us a charming timber framed hotel in the centre of the town, with the action outside the hotel's front door. Coupled with three excellent and distinct restaurant recommendations (one Alsatian tavern, one Michelin-starred restaurant, one family-run wine boutique), we had a very pleasant weekend that will live long in the memory.