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Hawaii’s Back yard Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi |
COURTESY OF KAPALUA
The annual Kapalua Wine & Food Festival will bring approximately 3,500 guests to sample the creations of 16 of Hawaii's top chefs and 100 wineries to Kapalua.
The fine art of pairing wine with sushi
promises to reach new heights at Kapalua's
popular annual tribute to the taste budsThe Kapalua Wine & Food Festival is to gourmets what the World Series is to baseball aficionados: the ultimate way to spend a few days. Now in its 22nd year at Maui's Kapalua Resort, this Epicurean extravaganza -- the longest-running event of its kind in Hawaii -- will welcome 3,500 guests to wine tastings, cooking demonstrations, seminars and gala dinners revolving around the theme "Flavor Map of the World -- Charting a Course for Grand Taste." The event runs July 11-13.
The hostess for the third straight year will be Andrea Immer, dean of wine studies at the French Culinary Institute in New York, author of three best-selling wine books and one of only 10 women in the world to earn the prestigious title of master sommelier. Describing this year's festival as "a full-fledged foodie fantasy," Immer will oversee a delectable schedule that features 100 international wineries and 16 of Hawaii's top chefs.
COURTESY OF KAPALUA
Food afficionados will descend on Kapalua in July.
D.K. Kodama, of Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar in Kapalua, Kihei and Honolulu, not only will be serving his specialties at the grand finale, the Kapalua Seafood Festival, he'll be leading what no doubt will be a jam-packed, hands-on sushi-making demonstration on July 11.
Teamed with Sansei's wine consultant, master sommelier Chuck Furuya, Kodama promises the 90-minute session will "grab the palate's attention. We want to make sushi that's fun and provocative. We believe in many of the traditions of sushi, and this forms the basis of our style. We then look to blend some of the old with the new without taking away from traditions."
Kodama already is known for his adventurousness with ingredients, which has resulted in intriguing sushi combinations such as ripe mango/blue crab/roasted peanuts and smoked salmon/Maui onions/cream cheese. Foie gras, tempura soft-shell crab, and lobster and asparagus are other imaginative sushi selections you'll find on Sansei's menu.
"I love the purity, finesse and artistry of sushi," Kodama says. "Our newest goal, especially since Chuck has come on board, is to make sushi that is more wine-friendly."
Furuya explains: "The challenge of pairing wine with sushi is that the sweet and vinegar components of the sushi rice limit the window of types of wine that you can work with. Generally, the wine you're drinking should be at least slightly sweeter than the food you're eating. Otherwise, the wine will taste bitter. A dry wine such as chardonnay, for example, will taste bitter with sushi."
COURTESY OF KAPALUA
Creative sushi by Sansei chef D.K. Kodama calls for a new approach to wine pairing.
Also, alcohol and bitterness levels of wine are exaggerated when consuming sweet dishes. Theoretically, the ideal wine for sushi would be one that's slightly sweet with an alcohol content below 10 percent and very little, if any, oak aging to it.
One of the wines that will be served at the sushi-making seminar will be Miner Viognier, which has high levels of oak and alcohol and a rich, ripe feel in the mouth. "This is a strongly flavored wine that you normally wouldn't choose to accompany sushi," says Furuya. "The challenge is to create sushi that won't be overpowered by it."
Using an oily fish, hamachi (yellowtail), that can absorb the alcohol and oakiness of the Miner Viognier is a big part of the solution. Adding marinated gobo (burdock) root, a dash of chili pepper water, a little ginger and minty shiso chiffonade as flavor enhancers also helps.
"You usually don't find these flavors combined in sushi," notes Furuya. "We're trying to take sushi up to another level so that it can hold its own against boldly flavored wines like Miner Viognier."
Adds Kodama, "It's creative, contemporary-style sushi we hope wine lovers can have fun with."
EXPLORING, venturing "outside the box," is encouraged at the Kapalua Wine & Food Festival, which began in 1981 as a small wine symposium that was the brainchild of the legendary Robert Mondavi.
"Its target was the food and beverage industry of Hawaii," says Kim Carpenter, Kapalua Resort's vice president of marketing. "Robert invited his friends from the wine industry to come over, enjoy Kapalua and Maui, and feature their wines."
Fifty people came that year. Today, the festival is "one of the best-attended wine functions in our industry," according to James Ferguson, Western region manager of Banfi Vintners in Tuscany.
COURTESY OF KAPALUA
One hundred international wineries will participate in the Kapalua Wine & Food Festival, which allows easy interaction between experts and enthusiasts.
What makes it attractive, asserts Carpenter, is the personal interaction attendees enjoy with prominent winemakers. "Sales and marketing representatives usually attend the wine festivals on the mainland. Even if the winemakers are there, these festivals are often so crowded attendees do not have a chance to say hello to them, let alone have meaningful conversations.
"Our event provides a rare opportunity for participants to mingle closely with the top winemakers in the world to gain valuable insights about the art of making and drinking fine wine."
Kapalua Wine & Food Festival
Place: Kapalua Resort, MauiWhen: July 11 to 13
Packages: Kapalua Resort is offering four festival packages, based on availability.
>> The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua: One three-night package includes partial ocean-view accommodations; an Andrea Immer book; two tickets to The Grand Tasting and Kapalua Seafood Festival, and daily buffet breakfast for two. Rates start at $550 per night, double. A second three-night package features deluxe ocean-view accommodations, two Festival Passes to all events, daily buffet breakfast for two and an Andrea Immer book. Prices begin at $925 per night, double.
>> Kapalua Bay Hotel & Ocean Villas: A four-night package provides garden-view accommodations and two tickets to The Grand Tasting, Bay Club Winemakers Dinner and Kapalua Seafood Festival. Cost is $500 per night, double, with an upgrade to an ocean-view room available for an additional $140 per night.
>> Kapalua Villas: Its three-night package provides accommodations in a one-bedroom ocean-view Villa, two tickets to The Grand Tasting and Kapalua Seafood Festival, and a $100 merchandise credit. Rate is $589 per person.
>> A four-day festival pass, including admission to all events plus a welcome reception on July 10, can be purchased for $750. Tickets for most events also can be purchased separately; prices range from $25 to $130 per person. Most seminars are limited to 60 to 100 guests. The cooking demonstrations are limited to 150.
Call: 800-KAPALUA for a complete schedule of events or for reservations
Web site: www.kapaluamaui.com
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based free-lance writer
and Society of American Travel Writers award winner.
