If there’s a more delightful prospect anywhere in Europe than the Alsace wine route, I’d like to hear about it. I mean, consider: we have, first, the Vosges mountains — rounded, forested and with just enough drama to give matters an edge. Up top, castles look out from craggy summits, their sting now drawn. Down below, vineyards unfurl right to the gates of villages whose half-timbered streets tell tales stretching back to the middle ages.

Within, folk have a Germanic dedication to thoroughness and to the eating of meals to gag a Great White. It’s balanced, though, with French-born flair and a marked taste for colour and festivity. Of course, there’s a sombre subplot. Alsaciens get battered whenever Europe comes to blows. They spent much of the last century bouncing between French and German rule. From the havoc of history, though, they’ve taken refuge in epic rural domesticity.

Villages stand substantial on the landscape, warm with homeliness and a history of working the land. There are woodpiles, tractors, apple-cheeked matrons — and then the wines. Little-known and often confused with German plonk, these tend to be dry, fruity and absurdly aromatic. In their grand cru versions, they may hold a place among the world’s finest whites. And if you’ve never tasted a late-harvest gewürztraminer with foie gras, you’ve missed one of life’s golden pleasures.

So now let us get in among it all. It’s easy to do: simply fly to Strasbourg, hire a car and drive southwest to Obernai. We’ll be tackling only the middle section of the 105-mile route. Otherwise, frankly, we’d never have enough superlatives to last. Walking Obernai is like walking through a folk tale, one featuring woodcutters and kids in clogs skipping about with buckets. Half-timbered buildings, roofs down over their ears, lean against one another, comparing pastel shades. Courtyards open up through flower-festooned gateways and, beyond, there’s a full set of medieval ramparts.

But the place is no museum. It’s chocker with contemporary commerce. And it’s a working wine town. That’s the thing about these wine route towns and villages. Each is prettier than the one before and few are entirely innocent of tourism. But they’ve got a life of their own and have had for a very long time.

Reflecting on such matters builds an appetite, so pop to the Halle Aux Blés — the old corn exchange — on the Place du Marché for lunch (00 33 388 955 609), then continue south. Here you’re at the very hinge of the Vosges, the Alsace plain to the left, mountains and forests rearing to the right. You’ll be dodging in and out of them from now on. A few miles on, Barr is a lovely town, trimmed with walled vineyards and twisting with cobbled streets. It’s also a starting point for a trek up to the Haut-Andlau and Spesbourg castles, though you’ll need a sturdy pair of thighs.

And so, with a song in the heart, to Mittelbergheim, sinuous, stone-built and with wine businesses in every courtyard, including Albert Seltz’s at 21 Rue Principale (00 33 388 089 177, www.albert-seltz.fr). Mittelbergheim is homeland to sylvaner, a grape variety considered inferior to the Alsace aristocrats riesling, pinot and gewürztraminer. Not by Seltz, though. Ebulliently trilingual, he crusades for sylvaner as if world peace were at stake. Have a tasting with him and you’ll likely be converted. (If not, say you are, or you’ll never get away.)

From here, the little road winds up hills and down, past vineyards, beneath more castles and through more story-book villages before curling into Dambach. Stop for a good look at the medieval village walls and gateways, and the venerable St Sébastien chapel but especially at the village as a whole. Note that the place is alive: ladies bustling in gardens, blokes busy in their farmyards. Prettiness here, you may conclude, derives from busyness.

From Kintzheim, you might drive up, and up, to the Château du Haut Koenigsbourg. Perched imposingly on a bluff, it was restored early last century (when Germany ran Alsace) by Kaiser Wilhelm II. The result is an imperial interpretation of how the middle ages should have looked, but a lot of fun all the same (00 33 388 825 060, www.monum.fr). Back down in Rorschwihr, the Rolly-Gassman domaine at 1 Rue de l’Eglise (00 33 389 736 328) has some of Alsace’s finest wines — notably rich muscats and gewürtzraminers. Consider them as aperitifs, then drive through the 14th-century gates of nearby Bergheim to eat choucroute or great freshwater fish at the Winstub Altenberg on the Place Dr Walter (00 33 389 737 397, www.winstubaltenberg.com).

Next stop is Ribeauvillé, as beguiling as a small town can be and base for a bracing three-hour trot round the three ruined castles on the hilltops above. Now for a real treat: the stork sanctuary at Hunawihr (00 33 389 737 262, www.cigogne-loutre.com). Storks are the emblematic birds of Alsace. You’ll see them nesting atop buildings and churches. In fluffy versions, they fill the gift shops. Trouble is, they migrate and fly into high-tension electric wires, so numbers have dwindled. Here, they breed them. And, my, what beautiful birds they are. With fine heads and soft eyes, they hold themselves in a most feminine manner. In lonely moments, you could imagine taking one out for dinner (though you’d have do something about the clacking).

Just down the road, Riquewihr is so perfectly preserved — fortifications, castle, belfry and all — that it seems permanently on the brink of a pageant. As such, it’s tipped a little too far towards tourism.

But get there early (or late, after the coaches have gone) and you may imagine yourself back in the Renaissance. Wine-wise, we’re in riesling territory, and some of the best are to be had at Hugel, 3 Rue de la Première Armée (00 33 389 479 215, www.hugel.com).

And so we roll into Colmar, Alsace’s wine capital and a distillation of all that’s best about the wine route. Seek out the riverside Quai des Poissonniers, the Rue des Marchands with its extravagantly decorated houses and shops and, especially, the Unterlinden Museum where Matthias Grunewald’s Issenheim altarpiece is one of Europe’s most extraordinary gothic works.

We must end on a happy note and the best way of doing that is to head for La Maison des Têtes restaurant at 19 Rue des Têtes (00 33 389 244 343, www.maisondestetes.com). Step inside the superb Renaissance town house, sit down and give yourself over to some of the finest food and wine in eastern France. You know it makes sense.

Air France (0870 142 4343, www. airfrance.co.uk) flies Gatwick-Strasbourg. The drive from Calais to Obernai is 390 miles and takes about six hours