×

Classic! Wine & Food

Sip, savor with celeb chefs, vintners at Four Seasons Resort Maui

Guests toast to another day in paradise -- Photo courtesy Four Seasons Resort Maui

Exceptional epicureans gather at Wailea resort for stellar three-day fest

It’s unprecedented. Over the top. Without equal in Maui’s culinary festival scene in terms of coveted wines and pricing. And tickets are flying out the door faster than you can quaff a glass of “Opus One.”

Four Seasons Resort Maui in Wailea invites wine and food lovers to join its elite roster of world-class vintners, master sommeliers and chefs Friday through March 3 for the inaugural Maui Wine & Food Classic.

You’ve gotta have deep pockets to attend, but the return on the quality of wines, the gourmet foods and the rubbing of elbows with superstars in the industry is compensation that will be long on the palate. Kamaaina receive 20 percent off event prices and may book rooms with special rates starting at $349.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event,” says Four Seasons Maui Executive Chef Craig Dryhurst. “There hasn’t been anything like this in the Americas before. All of the big boys of wine will be here along with an incredible lineup of guest chefs.”

Four Seasons Executive Pastry Chef Bruce Trouyet will tempt with desserts -- Photo courtesy Four Seasons Resort Maui

Developed in partnership with Wally’s Wine & Spirits’ president Christian Navarro, dubbed “the wine therapist to the stars” by the New York Times, the Classic promises to deliver master wine classes, elite winemaker dinners and an oceanfront gala. The Brunch & Bubbles extravaganza, the Glassology Riedel crystal class, and the Harlan Elite wine dinner already have sold out, showing that epicureans will pay a premium to attend.

Other wine festivals here have presented one $1,000-per-plate dinner per year, including the Kapalua Wine & Food Festival and the Hawai’i Food & Wine Festival, but the Four Seasons will dazzle with five, count ’em, $995 (plus tax and gratuity per person) dinners coming up this Friday evening.

With a few seats left at the remaining four, dinners pair a winemaker with an acclaimed chef. You may prime up for dinner with a wine master class and top off the swellegant (both swell and elegant) evening with an after-party at the Serenity Pool. The latter is included in the price of the dinner.

“This event is exciting and unique, as it brings wine and food lovers together to mingle with winery owners, winemakers and winery dignitaries from around the world to spend three days together eating, drinking and sharing paradise at Four Seasons Resort Maui in Wailea, which has become one of the world’s leading wine destinations,” says Navarro, who introduces 27 star wine producers to the festival.

Headliners include Dom Perignon, Krug, Opus One, Chateau Cos d’Estournel, Colgin, Harlan Estate, Biondi Santi, Maison Louis Jadot, Billecart-Salmon and more. Famed spirit makers Louis XIII and Casa Dragones tequila will also lift moods.

Chef Ryan Kluver of Wally’s Beverly Hills -- Photo courtesy Four Seasons Resort Maui

As for celebrity guest chefs, they include Michelin-starred Jason McLeod of CH Projects, Jason Fox of Michelin-starred Commonwealth, “Top Chef” star Jennifer Carroll of Spice Finch and Ryan Kluver of Wally’s Beverly Hills and Wally’s Santa Monica.

The Oceanfront Gala on Saturday commands the price of $495 per person, plus tax and tip, more than any other walkabout festival event on Maui in this dining writer’s memory. However, you may sip wines off the charts in ratings and taste, such as varietals by Marciano Estate in Napa Valley.

“We will pour our 99-point 2015 Marciano Estate Cabernet Sauvignon along with our 2015 M Proprietary Red Wine (a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc) and the inaugural release of our 2017 Marciano Estate Blanc (a 100-percent Sauvignon Blanc from a one-acre parcel on the estate),” emailed Andrew Shaheen, who is director of sales and marketing for the winery that is located in St. Helena, Calif. “Additional library wines will be poured for the dinner on Friday that will be hosted by our proprietor Maurice Marciano and winemaker Morgan Maureze.”

More about the dinners later. For now, let’s focus on the gala, at which Hawaii favorite Paula Fuga will perform with Joshua Nakazawa and Monica Chung. Sip and groove to upbeat music, mix and mingle.

“We’re going to have various booths set up with views of the sunset, the Neighbor Islands and the ocean beyond,” says Chef Dryhurst. “We’ll feature 27 of the most world-renowned wine producers, Casa Dragones luxury artisanal tequila and innovative fresh local cuisine by my staff and guest chefs. We’re all making a bite for the event from fresh Kona, Maui and Oahu ingredients, a hot and cold mix of items. We’ll not have anything repetitive.”

Chase Anderson sabers champagne -- Photo courtesy Four Seasons Resort Maui

For instance, two-Michelin-star Chef Jason McCleod will make Born-and-Raised Eclairs with caviar, creme fraiche, grated egg, chives and shallots and craft seafood terrines with saffron aioli.

“This will be my first time visiting Maui and I am really excited to cook with local product, especially the amazing seafood,” McCleod emailed The Maui News.

His CH-Projects is a collective of 14 top restaurants and bars in San Diego with three more projects in the works. McCleod cooked in Michelin-starred restaurants in England and then received two while in Chicago when the Michelin Guide came there.

“When that call finally came through from Jean-Luc Naret (Michelin director at the time) and he said ‘you have received two stars in the first edition of the Chicago Guide,’ I almost fell over,” enthuses McCleod. “It was truly one of the most amazing moments of my life.”

For the uninitiated, a chef bestowed with a Michelin star is like a film actor receiving an Oscar. To get two Michelin stars in one fell swoop turns a chef into a Jack Nicholson of the culinary world.

Chef Peleg Miron of Spago Maui -- Photo courtesy Four Seasons Resort Maui

Participating chef Jason Fox also garnered a Michelin star for his Commonwealth restaurant in San Francisco. At the gala, he’ll let you dive into Kona crab and kohlrabi dumpling topped with caviar and lemongrass aioli on a bed of exotic sea lettuces.

Chef Kluver of Wally’s will do Maui Surfing Goat Dairy cheese cromesquis served with papaya chili jam. Chef Carrol is doing a dish that is yet to be announced. But, hey, she worked at Le Bernardin with guidance from Eric Ripert, a culinary giant, so you know whatever she makes will be good. Plus, she rose to star power on “Top Chef.”

Sip unrivaled wines and dine on ahi and ono carpaccio by Chef Dryhurst with Big Island ogo and tobiko cream, and short rib rendang with pandan soubise and coconut dukkah by Four Seasons Executive Sous Chef Nathan Volz as well as steamed Kona kampachi with fragrant Thai herbs and cilantro nam pla by Chef Miron of Spago Maui, who is a protege of Wolfgang Puck.

“The lineup is pretty impressive. I’m super excited about it,” says Host Chef Dryhurst, who hails from England. “Our guest chefs will focus on local produce adding their own personality to each dish,” says Dryhurst.

Four Seasons Resort Maui Executive Pastry Chef Bruce Trouyet and Executive Assistant Pastry Chef Riccardo Menicucci, who recently arrived on island from two-Michelin-starred Acquerello in San Francisco, will add a sweet touch with their desserts.

“Top Chef” star Jennifer Carroll of Spice Finch -- Photo courtesy Four Seasons Resort Maui

“At the Oceanfront Gala, Riccardo and I will present the two opposite elements of nature — the ice and the fire,” says Trouyet, a native of France who moved here from Four Seasons in Bora Bora.

“Riccardo will play with liquid nitrogen to create frozen chocolate mousse with strawberry compote and a touch of coconut,” Trouyet says. “I am going to play with the fire! I will flame in front of the guests a Tahitian vanilla cream on a lilikoi-roasted Maui Gold pineapple. This will be whimsical and fun to create some theatrics for dessert lovers.”

Pastry Chef Cole Hinueber of Spago Maui will add to the sweet endings with a different spin on pineapple by kiawe-smoking it and serving it with hibiscus sabayan, silky smooth with floral notes.

Like to enjoy your dessert in liquid form? Casa Dragones Tequila will be there and so will its distinctive co-founder and CEO of Tequila Bertha Gonzalez Nieves.

The Los Angeles Times calls Gonzalez Nieves “The First Lady of Tequila,” Food & Wine and Fortune magazines named her one of “The Most Innovative Women in Food & Drink,” the Financial Times says she is “a tough entrepreneur and co-founder of one of the chicest brands in a business rooted firmly in Mexican machismo,” and Forbes named her among the “The Most Powerful Women in Mexico.” She was also featured on the “Today Show.”

“We’re serving Dragones Rocks–our signature perfect Casa Dragones Blanco on the rocks with a grapefruit twist. And Casa Dragones Joven Sipping Tequila–neat in a crystal tequila flute,” Gonzalez Nieves emailed, and she added she’s a big fan of the island of Maui.

“Yes, I’ve visited before and I’m excited to come back. The people are so friendly and are always smiling, they just seem to exude an incredible joie de vivre!” she stated. 

She debuted Casa Dragones Joven in the U.S. in 2009 and Casa Dragones Blanco in the states in 2014.

Joven, a rare master blend of silver and extra-aged tequila, which has been rested in new American oak barrels for five years, has a complex smooth taste that is perfect for sipping and pairing with food. While the Blanco, a 100-percent Blue Agave silver tequila, was crafted to deliver an herbaceous, crisp taste that is recommended served on the rocks or in craft cocktails.

As for the five Elite Wine Dinners, all will be held at various venues at the resort starting at 7 p.m. Friday.  

For instance, Chateau Cos d’Estournel will be presented at Spago cooked by Chef Miron and hosted by chateau Brand Director Etienne de Nantes.

“Chateau Cos d’Estournel is a phenomenal second growth chateau in Saint-Estephe and it is an incredible opportunity to be able to partner in a dinner featuring their wines,” says Spago General Manager Derrin Abac.

The menu is Kona Maine lobster salad with preserved yuzu and creme fraiche, macadamia nut agnolotti with late-harvest black truffles, 100-percent pure Japanese Wagyu ribeye steak with Armagnac peppercorn sauce and a cheese course to die for. In fact, all of the dinners will feature cheese platters that even the monger at Beau Rivage Palace in Switzerland would want to feast eyes on and imitate.

The before-mentioned Marciano Estate, with its owner and winemaker as hosts, will pair their wines with Wally’s Chef Kluver’s cuisine at the resort’s Fountain View Lawn. Other Elite Wine Dinners are Colgin with “Top Chef” phenom Carroll; Pio Cesar dinner with fourth-generation owner and winemaker Pio Boffa with Michelin chef McCleod, and the Harlan dinner, which as stated before, is sold out.

All dinners culminate at the Serenity Pool for the After-party. Master Mixologist Ben Yabrow will be pouring Casa Dragones, and desserts by Trouyet and Menicci will delight.

“We are very excited to feature our dessert extravagance at the Serenity Pool to end the evening after the exciting tasting menus by our guest chefs and in-house chefs showcasing Hawaii’s best products in fun and creative ways. This will be a sweet ending to a gorgeous Maui night,” says Trouyet.

Other highlights are the 200th anniversary celebration of Billecart-Salmon champagne house at 4 p.m. Saturday; and five master wine classes at 5 p.m. Friday with Louis XII Cognac, Brunello di Montalcino legend Biondi Santi, Napa Valley Superstars, Louis Roederer and Roederer Estate, and A Discovery of Pinot Noir.

Adding even more bling to the Maui Wine & Food Classic will be Martin Katz, known as “the jeweler to the stars.” Katz was the creator of the $5-million Victoria Secret Bra, and his jewelry will be worn by many an Oscar actor tonight at the Academy Awards ceremonies on television. Hmm . . . wonder if Lady Gaga is one of his clients?

“Katz will have pop ups around our property during Maui Wine & Food Classic,” says Four Seasons Maui Director of Public Relations Crissa Hiranaga.

The noble part is, a portion of the proceeds from the event benefit Maui Food Bank.

_______________

MWFC fast facts:

• What: The inaugural three-day Maui Wine & Food Classic runs Friday through Sunday, March 3 at Four Seasons Resort Maui in Wailea.

• Highlights: Master wine classes, Elite Wine Dinners that include an After-party at the Serenity Pool on Friday and Ocean Front Gala on Saturday.

• For tickets for full schedule: Call 874-8000 or visit www.fourseasons.com/mauiclassic.

Resort Manager Martin Dell. -- Photo courtesy Four Seasons Resort Maui

Chef Jason McCleod -- Photo courtesy Four Seasons Resort Maui

Chef Jason Fox -- Photo courtesy Four Seasons Resort Maui

Four Seasons Resort Maui boasts 23 sommeliers on staff, who will bring their friendly knowledge to Maui Wine & Food Classic answering questions and pouring fine and rare vintages. In addition to the above, Master Sommeliers Roberto Viernes and Patrick Okubo of Oahu will be present. -- Photo courtesy Four Seasons Resort Maui

Four Seasons Resort Maui’s Serenity Pool will set the stage for an over-the-top After-party Saturday, following the five elite wine dinners. Epicurean desserts and tequila drinks will flow. -- Photo courtesy Four Seasons Resort Maui

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper?
     
Support Local Journalism on Maui

Only $99/year

Subscribe Today