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By The Glass Chuck Furuya |
Roy’s event attracts
top winemakersA few years back I was able to visit with Germany's legendary Egon Muller. For someone who loves riesling wines the way I do, this was the equivalent of meeting Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods. His chateau and position in the community suggested royal ancestry, or something of the sort.
We spent the greater part of an afternoon in his drawing room tasting his riesling elixirs. He would periodically disappear into his fabled cellar to bring up another older vintage of his remarkable wine, but, only if our group could correctly guess the vintage and quality level of the wine we were currently tasting. He did not say too much.
His silence was almost eerie, so I was really taken aback when, he looked at me squarely and asked in English, "So, you are from Hawaii? Well, I know somebody from Hawaii. Do you happen to know Roy Yamaguchi?"
Roy Yamaguchi? I almost choked as he continued, "Our wines and his food are wonderful together."
Here I was, halfway around the world, in the drawing room of some aristocratic chateau and being asked by one of world's most revered wine names if I knew Roy.
It made me better understand how much attention my friend and colleague Roy Yamaguchi has brought to the islands.
It has been 15 years since Roy opened his Hawaii Kai eatery. Fifteen years! In celebration, the Roy's ohana is putting together the biggest culinary bash we've seen in the islands, on Feb. 22 at Kapiolani Community College. The list of two-dozen star chefs leads with famed Japanese chefs Nobu Matsuhisa and Testuya Wakuda, plus Alessandro Stratta of Renoir in Las Vegas and Lee Hefter of Spago Beverly Hills.
To complete this evening's culinary experience, some of the world's top wineries (and Mehana Brewery) will be there, too: Au Bon Climat's Jim Clendenen, Justin and Debby Baldwin from Justin, the legendary Patrick Campbell from Laurel Glen, Dan Philips from the Grateful Palate, Van Williamson from Edmeades, just to name a few. And coming all the way from Germany are the highly revered trio of Hanno Zilliken, Fritz Hasselbach (Gunderloch) and Jan Eymael (Pfeffingen).
Their mission? "Our wines and his food are wonderful together."
See you there.
Tickets to the Roy's anniversary dinner are $100 or $5,000 for corporate tables of 10, to benefit the Thomas and Warren Matsuda Scholarship Fund for culinary students. Call 396-7697.
Chuck Furuya is Hawaii's only master sommelier. This column is a weekly lesson in wine pairing written by a rotating panel of wine professionals.
This column is a weekly lesson in wine pairing written by a rotating panel of wine professionals. Write to features@starbulletin.com