After a day of sightseeing in Paris, the quiet vineyards of Alsace seem very far away. We spent our Alsatian week in lovely Hunawihr, one of “les plus beaux villages de France”, nestled between hills of grapevines, with a fortified church perched on top.

The town is said to be named after Hunon and his wife Hune, a saint who was canonized because of her work with the poor. As the story goes, Hune would go to the now-400-year-old fountain below the church and wash the clothes of those less fortunate than she. Legends also claim that during years that saw poor grape harvests, she could miraculously have wine flowing from this same fountain. While the fountains in town were only spouting water during our visit, the wine was poured freely at several local wineries where we would stop in to pick our bottles at the end of the day. (Not bad!)For the most part, it seemed as though we had Hunawihr to itself. (My internal soundtrack always looped back to Beauty and the Beast’s opening number.) It doesn’t have the small, but bustling tourism vibe like it’s neighbours in Ribeauvillé and Riquewihr, but it is easy (and so lovely!) to walk through the vineyards (along the Sentiers Vinicoles) to get to both towns. From Hunawihr it’s also an easy drive to bigger cities along the “route des vins”: Colmar, Strasbourg, Obernai…all of them full of rainbow coloured houses (“des maisons coquettes” as one lady accurately described them to me), and all charming. With castles dotting hilltops, cobblestone streets, and rolling green vineyards as far as the eye can see, it was a beautifully peaceful week. I’m sure you can taste it in any good glass of vin d’Alsace.