Wine is spice of life on Maui

Amy Hanaiali‘i and Rick Cooper California wines have island connections

"Tiny Bubbles . . . in the wine . . . make me happy. . . make me feel fine."

-- Don Ho

When five-time Grammy nominee Amy Hanaiali'i enticed in her new Hawaiian Room at Grand Wailea with song on New Year's Eve, the attendees were treated to sips from her Napa Valley merlot and chardonnay and Sonoma County sparkling wine Tiny Bubbles.

In fact, New Year's Eve at The Hawaiian Room was the unveiling of Tiny Bubbles, Amy's newest product in the award-winning Hanaiali'i wine line of California.

"There's a lot of genius in Amy naming her sparkling wine Tiny Bubbles and also in featuring it in The Hawaiian Room," says Alan Jahns of Paradise Beverages, her Maui distributor. "It shows Amy's relationship with the family of Don Ho, who gave her their blessing."

"The Tiny Bubbles is special because I was given aloha from Uncle Don's camp to go ahead and call it that. He was one of my idols," adds Amy.

Also of note is that back in the day, Ho had his own Oahu showroom, and now Amy has her own on Maui.

"As you know, sparkling wines take longer to produce than other wines," Jahns says. "And it had just been finished and made ready to ship around Dec.10. Thankfully it arrived in time for its planned unveiling on New Year's Eve."

Tiny Bubbles Sparkling NV is the technical name and it is a Sonoma County Brut, which  combines chardonnay, pinot noir and French Colombard varietals. Its debut went off with a bang as it was uncorked for revelers when 2017 rang in. With Amy's other labels, the Napa Valley chardonnay and merlot, she aligned herself with  mutual friends of Jahns in the Napa Valley.

"I respect John Truchard and Ian White, the producers of her wines," Jahns adds. "They are not your usual celebrity wine labels. But they are serious wines and her merlot recently received 90 Points in The Wine Spectator, giving Amy some serious 'street cred' in the wine industry."

Tiny Bubbles Sparkling NV is already featured in Tamura's throughout Hawaii, including  at Kahului, Lahaina and new Kihei location. The retail price is $30.49.

"The sparkling wine is top notch," says Amy. My rock star wine partners from Napa  are really supportive in helping me trust my palate."

Maui's own James Langford designed the incredible label.

A wine industry person who attended Amy's show on New Year's Eve was Rick Cooper of The Alex Cooper Project Wines of California.

A Maui resident in winter and full-time gastronome, Rick "The Coop" Cooper and his winemaking friend Rodney Alex are partners, says Jahns, who also represents The Alex Cooper Project label.

"This 2012 zin is their third vintage from Doug Rafanelli's famous Dry Creek property. Doug has taken these two Chicago-guys under his wing, combining their unbridled enthusiasm with his lifetime of grape-growing and winemaking experience."

"The Coop" is a fixture in many fine dining restaurants and bottle shops here during the winter months of each year and he promotes concerts, such as Young The Giant that will be on Saturday at Maui Arts & Cultural Center in Kahului.

"I live in Chicago and then here for three months each year. It's the cold weather there that draws me here," explains The Coop.

"I'm the owner of the Alex Cooper Project and we lease vineyard space in Dry Creek Valley in California," The Coop continues. "We make one wine per year and now it's zinfandel. We have 450 cases and it's starting to roll out on Maui now as we speak."

It's available on Hali'imaile General Store and Travaasa Hana wine lists and at Wailea Wines. Suggested retail price is $24.95 a bottle.

Both Amy's and The Coop's wines will surely make you feel "warm all over " just like the lyrics by Don Ho.