This is another post tht was lost when R/F.com forum got attacked.  BTW, the forum is back up, but all the old posts are gone :(

Medieval Feast in the Napa Castle - March 29th, 2008

In short, it was awesome!

The long story starts out last summer when we visited the Castello di Amorosa, the castle of love in the Napa Valley. We took the tour of the castle (which I highly recommend) and during the tour they mentioned their wine club and the planning of 4 events a year at the castle for the wine club. Oh yea, they just happen to mention that one of the events would be a medieval feast. With that, I said “Where do we sign” while reaching for my pen.

The invitation finally arrives in February for the “Il Banchetto Medioevale” a Medieval Banquet. We had been given a gift certificate to a Bed and Breakfast as a wedding gift, so when we booked the feast, we also booked 2 nights at La Belle Époque in Napa. We reserved the Champagne Suite.

Fast forward to Friday night. The plan was to duck out of work by 3:00, well that was the plan anyway. We got away a little after 5:00 and traffic was good. We got there about in about 45 minutes. Got checked in and shown our room and all I can say is wow. Whirlpool tub, breakfast nook, fireplace, the works. Our friends have excellent taste!

The B&B has wine tasting at 6:00 every evening and we timed it perfectly. We strolled the 2 blocks into downtown Napa and peeked in several restaurants and decided on Tuscany mostly because it has live music. Caesar salad, quail for me and chicken for my lady, a bottle of Syrah, and dessert bought for us by the waiter. A very tasty meal. Back to the room to try out the tub. A bottle of 2005 Sangiovese from our last wine club shipment from the castle. Both the tub and the wine worked wonderfully.

We broke our fast in the room, it was served in a very nice basket.

Underneath was the main course of a Monte Cristo sandwich.

We really hurried and got out of the room by the crack of noon. Crawled around the downtown antique shops looking for stuff to help decorate our new ren corner in the house. We found nothing and developed a dire thirst from all the hard work. Just my luck, a brewery, right there in the next block. Hack, gag, throat sooo dry, need IPA now. The sassy bartender at Downtown Joe’s was able to save me and treated us well. Hmmm, as long as we are here, a little snack never hurts (you just never know when you might be able to eat again), oh and another beer sounds good too. Back to the room by 5:00 to get into garb. We shocked the rest of the guests at the 6:00 wine tasting, priceless.

Load the chariot and we are off at 6:30 for the feast. It is up valley about 22 miles, I think next time we will stay in Calistoga, which is only a couple of miles from the castle. Checked in right on time and given the lay of the land and a wine glass by the Baron Sattui the owner himself, he is dressed as an Italian baron in blue and gold.

We entered the courtyard to the sounds of minstrels and conversation. We step up and get our first wine taste, the Pinot Grigio. As we step away from the bar, they call for the group of volunteers for the next mini tour and barrel taste, so we are immediately off into the caverns.

We get three different barrel tastes, then up to the tasting room for…Guess…I know you can…MORE WINE. We immediately find a few folks that are clearly rennies and strike up a conversation. IT is quickly determined that my wife’s garb needs “fixing”.

Much better (being the pig that I am).

This is the better half of the cadre that we wind up spending the rest of the evening with. The “other” half.

Our next stop is the great hall for the feast at 8:15 and what a sight to see. It is full and I would say that there was 250 people seat at the 3 long tables. As we sit, it is clear that the first course is already on the table, quite literally. Grapes, strawberries, tomatoes, radishes, bread, cheese, cauliflower, asparagus, pears all there just to start. We each have a knife, a plate, and napkin, but not a fork or spoon in sight.

The next course was a lentil soup. Oh yea, a little more wine too.

The main course of chicken, turkey, and beef kabobs.

We try a new style of eating.

The last course was dessert, which was a plate of 4 different things and did I mention a little more wine. During dessert there was some sort of disagreement in the front of the hall. We are informed that the ruckus is over a lady (as always) and it must be settled with a duel in the court yard and that we all should adjourn to witness.

It was pretty dark and sparks actually flew when the swordsmen clashed. As the loser lay dead, the fair maiden was about to awarded to the victor when she was swept away by the Baron Sattui. It was great magical evening that we never wanted to end, but alas.

All the pictures are here and here. Pictures of the castle are here.