Maui Calls, the signature fund raiser for the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, will raise the bar by featuring 14 top winemakers from the Mainland.
Set up under the stars at the A&B Amphitheater and the Yokouchi Pavilion from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, it will feature superstars such as David Graves of Saintsbury, coproprietor of the certified green winery in Napa.
"Saintsbury is best known for its Pinot Noir, but it also makes some fantastic Chardonnay," says its distributor Alan Jahns, partner in JMD Beverages, who is the returning wine chair at the event.
Article Photos
Proprietor David Graves of Saintsbury takes a break at his Napa Valley winery in May. He’ll return to Maui Calls on Friday, when attendees will be able to chat him up.
The Maui News / CARLA TRACY photo
"College chums David Graves and Dick Ward brought world-wide legitimacy to California Pinot Noir, while also putting the Carneros region back on the map back in the mid 1980s. Carneros is the cooler-climate part of Napa in the south end of the valley, where the influence of breezes from the San Francisco Bay are more keenly felt. This is where pinot and chardonnay thrive."
Graves says his great, great grandfather opened the oldest continously running saloon in San Francisco in 1861 called simply, The Saloon. He and Ward met in a brewing class and became fast friends. "I love Maui," says Graves. "One of my grandmother's brothers worked on a sugar-plantation railway in Hawaii."
As far as Maui Calls goes, co-chairs Wendy Peterson and Gloria Buckingham encourage those who are interested in the exclusive Epicurean Table experience (includes a private reception at 5 p.m. preferred parking and tableside service during the event) to make reservations today, as there aren't many tables left.
"You also won't want to miss the silent and live auctions on Friday at Maui Calls the packages the auction chairs have put together are fabulous."
Dining Out experiences include dinner for four at Spago Maui and Ko, both in Wailea. The new Fleetwood's on Front St. has mixed a special live auction package to feature a private dinner for eight that includes wine tasting with Mick and his Fleetwood Cellars wines plus two tickets to any Fleetwood Mac concert, all based on mutually agreeable dates.
For Maui Calls tickets, phone 242-7469 or visit the web site at www.mauiarts.org.
