Wine flows along the Rhine

One weekend proved to be a remarkable day in my life.
I drank wine - all kinds, red, white; beer- the works.
It happened so that an acquaintance I knew in Germany invited me to experience the fullness of a wine festival. He knew that I didn't drink but all the same I agreed to keep him company.
We went to nearby Sasbach, just four kilometers from France, on the banks of the picturesque Rhine that acts as the international border between French Alsace and German Baden-Wurttemberg.
When we arrived it was late night already but the festivities were just beginning. We saw quite a few sodden brunettes sitting bleary eyed by the sidewalk. Some of them ogled at me, perhaps because of my skin color.
Some sort of clubs had been formed at the wine festival and each club had its own stall where it offered its produce to visitors and locals as well.
Our first visit was to the stall run by the mayor of Sasbach. He proved to be a ruddy well built man who kept on offering us more and more of his wine, perhaps to give an alien the best Germany has to offer. I drank a lot but noticed that I was not getting any more drunk.
Then we had another shot of wine at the next stall complete with cherries at the bottom of the glass. The cherries too had partially fermented.
I was desperately hungry by this time so my friend and I went to a fast food stall. We were offered something that tasted like salted dried meat, accompanied with a bread loaf.
I found it extremely bland for my taste. No better than chomping at a tramp's disintegrating shoes.
Soon the place was filling up with people. I had never seen so many people together at one place in these rural parts. A musician was playing on his string instrument in accompaniment to an Italian folk song.
Soon some of the people were up on the benches and were chanting and singing and dancing. The crowed roared in approval when one octogenarian couple did a tap dance.
All of them seemed to be having a good time.
After a couple more drinks I started getting heady and decided to stop the beer and wine guzzling.
Still I was reasonably sober until I reached my boarding.
I pondered over the more subtle nuances of life that did not make much sense to me the next day, before I passed out drunk.