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21st Annual Kapalua Wine & Food Festival

Brings Together Top Chefs, World-Class Vinters and Wind Lovers

By Madelyn Miller

Kapalua resort on the island of Maui will be bubbling July 4 through 7, 2002, as it hosts the 21^st Annual Kapalua Wine & Food Festival, considered the state’s premier event for foodies and wine fans. And I am bubbling with excitement over going back again this year. This was the first extravaganza style food and wine event I ever attended, and it still sets a standard for the others.

Host Andrea Immer, Master Sommelier, Dean at The French Culinary Institute in New York City, and author of the soon-to-be-released ANDREA IMMER’S WINE BUYING GUIDE FOR EVERYONE, has created “A Tribute to Food and Wine Classics,” with wine and culinary seminars, themed tastings, and dinners that focus on the latest trends in the wine industry as well as “the classics.” Joining Ms. Immer are nationally renowned sommeliers Karen King (Union Square Café, New York City), Virginia Philip (The Breakers Hotel, Palm Beach), Alpana Singh (Everest, Chicago ), Master Sommelier Larry Stone (Rubicon, San Francisco), and Master Sommelier Fred Dame (Paterno Imports).

The four-day wine and food extravaganza will showcase more than 30 internationally renowned wineries as well as Hawaii’s favorite chefs.  Among the savory events are:

The Grand Tasting: Opening on the spectacular Kapalua Bay Hotel oceanfront promontory Friday, July 5, The Grand Tasting highlights world-class wines from each of the featured wineries for an alfresco sampling of more than 100 wines.  Chef Martina Hilldorfer of the Kapalua Bay Hotel & Ocean Villas will prepare a “Hawaiian Turf Barbeque” featuring the bounty of the Pacific Ocean and a new twist on barbecue favorites.  In addition, guest sommeliers will share their favorite selections at the “Sommeliers’ Choice” tent, including Big California Chardonnays, Classics from Europe and the Super Tuscans, and “New World” Wines – Chile, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Perrier Jouët Fleur de Champagne Vertical Tasting: Commemorating the 100^th anniversary of the Perrier-Jouët’s art nouveau-style “flower bottle,” this wine tasting seminar features a vertical tasting with Olivier Brun of Champagne Perrier Jouët and featured sommeliers. This will be a rare opportunity for the public to taste vintage Fleur de Champagne which all will be poured from magnums.

What Women Want: Nationally-acclaimed featured sommeliers will showcase the vinous handiwork of women. Gentlemen sommeliers choose their favorite wines produced by women vintners while lady sommeliers present their top choices, period.

Flavor Tour de France, via Maui: Award-winning Chef James Laird, of Restaurant Serenade, Chatham, New Jersey, will prepare sumptuous culinary specialties from three points on the French flavor compass —Champagne, Alsace, and Provence — complemented by local wines selected and presented by the guest sommeliers. 

Cooking in Season: This culinary seminar explores the varied sensory “palette” — color, scent, flavor and richness — of seasonal ingredients at their peak; spring‘s delicate complexity, summer‘s crisp vibrancy, autumn’s earthly opulence and winter’s deep richness, as prepared by Chef Laird.

Kapalua Wine Tour: This resort-wide tour showcases the unique and hard-to-find wines from the portfolios of local market wine and spirits distributors.  Samplings are conducted on a drop-by basis at several unique locations around the resort.

The Red, White & Blue Gala Dinner: On Saturday, July 6, Executive Chef Stephen Marshall of The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua, will prepare his take on American favorite dishes for this Independence Day celebration.  This tribute to American Classics will also feature pairings of premium bottlings, selected by guest sommeliers, of red and white wines from American wineries.

Kapalua Seafood Festival: This signature event shines the spotlight on Hawaii’s favorite chefs as they prepare a bounty from the Pacific complemented by wines personally selected by Immer.  Hawaiian entertainment tops this memorable evening, which takes place on Sunday, July 7, at The Ritz-Carlton, Aloha Garden Pavilion.

A four-day festival pass is priced at $625 and includes admission to all events. Selected tastings, seminars and dinners may be purchased separately.  Special festival rates are available at Kapalua’s luxury accommodations, the Kapalua Bay Hotel & Ocean Villas, The Kapalua Villas and The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua.  For tickets or more information, call toll-free 1-800-KAPALUA or visit the festival web site at www.kapaluawineandfood.com. 

Kapalua is a 1,650-acre master-planned resort community set amidst a 23,000-acre working pineapple plantation on Maui’s northwest coast. The resort is renowned for its three world-class golf courses – The Bay, The Village and The Plantation Courses; nine residential communities; two premier hotels – The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua and the Kapalua Bay Hotel & Ocean Villas; a villa and luxury home rental program, The Kapalua Villas; two tennis complexes; three white sand beaches; and a myriad of restaurants and shops. For more information call (800)KAPALUA or visit www.kapaluamaui.com.

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