COLMAR, Alsace -- It's noon in the village of Eguisheim, and the stork lady is probably putting out fish for the town's resident storks. Each day, they leave their nest atop the highest chimney in town long enough to spread their 6-foot wings, swoop down and eat.
Eguisheim, Riquewihr, Keintzheim and other villages amid the vineyards hired stork ladies after they discovered the big birds would stay the year-round if enough food were provided.
The villagers are fond of their storks and want them to stay. They give the storks names and watch their every move -- or flight. Annie, our guide, tells the story of one stork couple, Gertrude and Bernhard, who apparently had a spat. Gertrude took off, literally.
Bernhard was lonely, and the townspeople were afraid he would leave, too. But one day a new female stork took up residence in his nest. It wasn't long before Gertrude returned and forced her competitor out. Now Gertrude and Bernhard are a loving couple again.
Annie says the local paper kept readers updated on the whole affair.
As we walk the narrow, 12th-century cobblestone streets one morning, heading for our cooking class at the Hostellerie du Pape, Annie leads us past historic half-timbered houses, many of them decked with red geraniums, pink roses and other colorful flowers, and the remains of old castles, churches and the town wall.
Philippe Kientzler, second chef at Hostellerie du Pape's fine restaurant, is going to teach our group of 28 on Elderhostel's first Food and Wine of Champagne and Alsace study tour how to prepare some of the region's specialties.
To start, we'll learn about Alsatian Onion Tart, a quiche-like dish. "First, stew the onions in butter for a long time, until they have no color," he urges, "so you don't have any winds. Otherwise, it can be unpleasant afterwards."
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Pairing food and Alsatian wines
 Riesling -- Vivacious, fruity white wine. Good with fish, shellfish and seafood, white meats and choucroute.
Gewurztraminer -- Exceptionally aromatic, with a fruity, floral and spicy bouquet; full-bodied, powerful and well rounded. Ideal as an aperitif with exotic cuisines such as Asian, Mexican and Indian and with cheese and dessert.
Sylvaner -- Light, refreshing, discreetly fruity. Recommended with seafood, charcuterie, salads and choucroute.
Pinot Blanc -- Fresh, nicely rounded, the happy medium of Alsace wines. Goes with a host of dishes, such as poultry, fish and hot and cold appetizers.
Tokay Pinot Gris -- Powerful, rich wine with complex aromas. It can replace red wine with white meats and game.
Muscat d'Alsace -- Fruity, aromatic and dry, it makes a nice aperitif. Also recommended with asparagus.
Pinot Noir -- Fruity, cherry-like bouquet, it's the only red wine of Alsace. Match with charcuterie and red meats.
Alsatian wines should be served chilled but not iced, at about 45-55 degrees.
-- Woodene Merriman
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Chef Kientzler worked in London for 16 years before returning to his hometown, so his English is excellent but his expressions are sometimes colorful.
In classes for two mornings, chef Kientzler also will teach us how to make kugelhopf, choucroute and baeckaoffa, the Irish-stew-like, one-dish meal created when housewives took a pot of meat and vegetables, the lid sealed with a strip of bread dough, to the baker's oven to cook slowly while they did the family wash. At lunch we'll feast on the local dishes and wines in the hotel restaurant.
The recipe for baeckaoffa is not one I plan to take back to Pittsburgh. It's a too-heavy, rustic dish, loaded with carrots, potatoes and three kinds of meat. Besides, I've never developed a taste for one of the ingredients, pig's trotters, as pig's feet are called in England.
Kugelhopf (it can be spelled 13 different ways, again according to the local paper) is a yeast-raised cake with raisins, baked in a crown-like mold. Kugelhopf is eaten for Sunday breakfast and strangely (we think), the Alsatians like it slightly stale. We learned this the hard way, after complaining about the stale kugelhopf at the Hotel Mercure Unterlinden in Colmar, where we're staying.
But choucroute, made with sauerkraut, juniper berries, ham, smoked sausage and boiled potatoes, has quickly become one of our favorite Alsatian dishes. The local sauerkraut is especially light and fine, and each restaurant has a slightly different combination of meat to go with it. Sometimes, like the dish served to us here at the Hostellerie du Pape, it's made with fish (and it's surprisingly good).
We're here to study Alsatian wine, too, so we've had long sipping and spitting sessions at the modern Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins d'Alsace headquarters. We've traveled the Route des Vins d'Alsace, or the wine road, to visit big Alsatian wine makers, such as Dopff au Moulin, and smaller ones, such as Fernand Engel et Fils.
From Isabella, our 33-year-old instructor who spent several months in the Finger Lakes wine region in New York and speaks much better English than our French, we've learned the basics of Alsatian wines:
Seven grapes are used, and the wines are generically named for those grapes -- Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Sylvaner, Pinot Blanc, Tokay Pinot Gris, Muscat d'Alsace and Pinot Noir. Each wine is 100 percent of that grape.
Alsace Grand Cru wines are produced exclusively in 50 strictly defined vineyards, each with its own specific character. The GC marking is on every bottle.
Cremant d'Alsace is the name of the region's sparkling wines, made by the traditional method, as in Champagne.
The United States imports 6 percent of all Alsatian wines.
Alsatian wines are fresh, natural and grapey and, unlike the chardonnays so popular in America, they're unoaked. Alsatian winemakers "totally respect the taste of the grapes," Isabella says.
Some members of our group are novices, others (particularly the 15 Californians) are knowledgeable. It doesn't matter whether you describe the wine as "unctuous" or think it "smells like Band-Aids," no one laughs.
When some of us complain that we don't get much of a "nose" from one of the wines, Isabella teaches us a trick: "Hold the palm of your hand over the wine and swirl it vigorously to release the aroma." It works. But it works only once for each glass of wine, Isabella warns.
Along with cooking lessons and wine tastings, we've had time for group dinners at restaurants and sightseeing, some led by local guides and some by our Elderhostel group director, Jim Becker, a retired dentist, basketball coach and French teacher from Iowa.
This is Becker's first trip to this part of France, but he is an inveterate student and traveler himself and has led many other Elderhostel excursions. Some of the people who have traveled with him have been on up to 29 Elderhostel programs, he says.
Elderhostel is a nonprofit organization for people 55 and over. The focus is on learning while exploring, not just sightseeing.
The median age of our group is 68. Backgrounds and interests vary widely -- Margaret is a former restaurant owner, Judy sells real estate "so I can go on these trips," and James works for Woodbridge, the Mondavi winery. Joy is a widely traveled Southern belle; she'll be back in Paris for Christmas. Dusty, who doesn't drink any alcohol, used to sell insurance. He reads a novel during the longest sipping sessions.
Elderhostel, founded in 1975, originally was based in a few college and university campuses in New England. I had always avoided Elderhostel; the thought of sleeping in college dormitories with the bathroom down the hall doesn't appeal to me now. I did that once.
But this program has not been like that. Hotels are three-star and centrally located, the food and wine mostly quite good, the sightseeing itineraries excellent. Before leaving the United States, we received several mailings of advance material, with everything from reading suggestions to essays on the culture of France. (Under eating: "Both hands remain above the table at all times. A man may rest his wrists, and a woman her forearms, on the table edge. One does not place the elbows on the table.")
Some of our fellow travelers have complained that we don't have enough time for shopping, and there were some kinks in the schedule on this first Elderhostel program in the area. But those are minor complaints.
Would my husband and I go on another Elderhostel study tour? You betcha. Have wine glasses, will travel.
Information on Elderhostel can be found at www.Elderhostel.org or by writing to Elderhostel Inc., 11 Avenue de Lafayette, Boston, MA 02111-1746.
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