[MR] wine an cheese parties

[Stefan li Rous]

Baroness Rebecca replied to my questions about her upcoming wine and  
cheese party with:
<<< This is for a canton event called MATO in September so I'm still  
researching. >>>

Oh! I thought this was another of several that you'd done. So I guess  
I can't get much of a report yet on how well this had worked previously.

<<< Didn't imagine that this was a first for the known world! <Grin> >>>

Well, it may not be. It's just the first I've heard of at an event.  
But my experiences are pretty much confined to Ansteorra and what I've  
heard people mention on the nets. I'm also a relative newcomer, only  
having been in the SCA 22 years.

<<< At the time that I suggested it we were considering a Marco Polo  
theme and I was researching wines for that time period that he had  
been known to have.  However we have moved to a more general theme and  
now I've restarted looking for those wines that are period for SCA.   
I'm hoping to find castles or monasteries that were producing wine pre  
1600 that still are but I doubt I'll find much of that.

I can remember doing a mustard tasting class and an impromptu  
sekanjabaum tasting session at Pennsic, but that's a bit different.

What I suspect I'll be able to find is documentation for the types of  
wines that were produced in pre-1600 Europe and bring the same types  
of wines to the event. >>>

For documenting either wine or cheese in period, I'd say you might  
first want to take a look at the Florilegium. The biggest problem is  
that even if know of a regional wine being mentioned in period, there  
is little way to know how much today's version resembles that of 5 or  
600 years ago.

In the FOOD-DAIRY section:
cheese-msg (205K) 5/17/10 Medieval cheese. Recipes.

http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-DAIRY/cheese-msg.html

blue-cheese-msg (20K) 9/23/07 Period blue cheeses.

http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-DAIRY/blue-cheese-msg.html

In the FOOD-MANUSCRIPTS section:

About-Cheese-art (12K) 3/ 4/05 "About Cheese" A tranlation by  
Aelianora de Wintringham of a 1556 letter on Swiss cheese and dairy  
products.

http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-MANUSCRIPTS/About-Cheese-art.html

Ital-cheese-art (12K) 8/ 2/08 "16th Century Italian Cheese Recipes"  
trans. by Mistress Helewyse de Birkestad.

http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-MANUSCRIPTS/Ital-cheese-art.html

In the BEVERAGES section:

wine-msg (147K) 7/20/10 Medieval wines.

http://www.florilegium.org/files/BEVERAGES/wine-msg.html

<<< I'm not at all sure that the wine and cheese party is a type of  
party I can document  but the wines to be tried will be consistent  
with the theme of the event.  I hope to have at least 3 wines for  
everybody to try. >>>

I doubt it. But while they didn't tend to eat breakfast in period,  
there are a lot of foods that they ate at other times that we would  
consider breakfast foods. And we seem to hold a lot of "Queen's Teas"  
and such and tea wasn't known in Europe prior to 1600. So I'd say go  
for it.

<<< This is a camping event where most people like to stay and it is a  
wet site. >>>

You keep saying it's going to be a "wet" site. I hope that means you  
can have alcohol and not that you are expecting rain. :-)  Although  
there could be worse ways to spend a rainy day than in a large  
pavilion enjoyed cheese and wine with a bunch of friends.

<<< Course if anyone wants to make wine and bring it that would be  
just fine too --- HINT!! But this is a party that I"m donating so it  
doesn't stress the event budget. >>>

Remember that other than wine used in food preparations, SCA money,  
including event fees, can not be used to purchase alcohol. So that  
means the alcohol or money for buying the alcohol will need to be  
donated.  A lot of cheese would go well with ciders. :-)

Best of luck. I've had SCA friends hold wine and cheese tastings in  
their homes, just not at events. Please let the list (and/or me) know  
how it works out.

Thanks,

   Stefan



--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****