An Olive Feast Fit For Kings and Queens

What do you get when you mix 19 chefs from the Sonoma Valley, regional wines and one fruit?

A lavish dinner of fancy foodies, chefs, wine makers and olive oil producers called Feast of the Olive. For the 12th year, Sonoma Valley Executive chefs, artisanal olive oil and wine makers came together in celebration of the season of Sonoma Valley’s second most abundant fruit (behind – you guessed it – the grape).  They all worked together to construct one magnificent olive-centric dinner. The result?  Three unique five-course menus, each with wine pairings, that left very little to the imagination about this mighty fruit.

So how did it all work?

The evening began with a bubbly cocktail hour where guests mingled and nibbled on h’orderves. Guests were then seated at community-style tables, each marked with a unique number.  Tables were lined up in three rows; unique menus were presented to each row.

No detail went overlooked – place settings, hefty cutlery, bottles of artisanal olive oil and warm bread greeted each guest.  Before the serving of each course, chefs and local winemakers spoke about their respective creations in great detail before circulating around their tables to mingle with guests.

The production is pretty impressive for an event that started as a small outdoor gathering in Sonoma. That inaugural event was so well-received that it was nothing but up from there.

Feast of the Olive is now the pinnacle event in the midst of the Sonoma Valley Olive Season, which includes a slew of olive themed gathering – concerts, cooking classes, seminars and artisan markets.  Olive season celebrations officially ends the Sunday of President’s Day weekend. 

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