Here's a piece of advice: never take a nanny on a wine holiday. Maria das Neves was an irrepressible Brazilian baba (not babe - it means nursemaid) whose exuberance got her into trouble.
Her first winter in Britain was extremely cold. Although her name means Mary of the Snows, she had never seen the stuff before. When the first blizzard hit, she dashed out and made, not a snowman, but a family of snowbabies, a charming hint of her individuality. Taken to Alsace in the summer to look after a real baby while Mum and Dad got their noses into the riesling, she went too far, however.
Maria was from the dry northeast of Brazil, where people rush outside to celebrate if it rains. When a downpour hit the Alsatian hills, she not only ran around in the deluge nine-tenths naked, hooting with joy, but also jumped into the hotel's muddy duck pond and noisily swam a couple of lengths in wild jubilation. The holiday ended there.
There was probably some racism in the hotel's reaction: Maria was no Snow White. But a new generation of Alsatians has long since grown up in this northeastern corner of France, and I feel no guilt in speaking up for their now almost forgotten wines. These spicy whites and bubbly crémants d'alsace were an affordable mainstay of the British wine market before the new world moved in with its lime-streaked rieslings and peachy gewürztraminers. Now there seems to be little demand. Why?
Perhaps it's because basic Alsace wine is no longer a dry, reliable, good-value preference over "sweet" German riesling. At the basic level, the Germans have got drier, while across the Rhine in Alsace they are sweeter. The Alsatians are also much more ambitious than they used to be. They make some superb and intriguing wines, but at prices to match.
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What has happened? Neil Irvine, who buys wines for St John restaurant, in central London, points out that Alsace's cool, grey and even damp summers (as in Maria's downpour) have generally given way to longer and warmer ripening seasons. "They've had a long string of great vintages, producing some great wines," he says. "It is a lot harder to find good, simple examples of Alsace wines at good prices, yet at the same time you can find exceptional wines at very reasonable prices."
That "reasonable" is relative. So what's to be done if I fancy a spicy pinot gris with my Chinese takeaway? Or a soothing, apricotish bubbly for a lazy afternoon? It's hard to find anything memorable for less than £15, but not impossible. Here are some lovelies for which even I might jump in a duck pond.
LIQUID HUNCHES
Pinot Blanc, Domaine Rieflé 2007, £9.95
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Delicate and pure with gentle touches of plum, tangerine and lemon, this is new-wave Alsace at an affordable price. If you've had too much aggressively flavoured sauvignon blanc, here's the antidote (roberson.co.uk)
Alsace, Domaine Marcel Deiss 2006, £11.95
One of the wild men of French wine, Jean-Michel Deiss delivers philosophical monologues while coaxing his vines to "learn something new" from the soil. Even at this basic level, they deliver an intriguing dose of plum skins and ginger. A wine to linger over (www.londonfinewine.co.uk)
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Crémant d'Alsace, Domaine Bruno Sorg NV, £12
A zippy, hugely refreshing sparkler shot through with apples and apricots, it provides a perfect jolt to the system after a tiring day or heavy meal - an elixir to get you on your feet again (hgwines.co.uk)
What are you drinking? Tell me at wine@sunday-times.co.uk