From the land of mountains, fire and ice, New Zealand’s Craggy Range Wine will be showcased at a special Craggy Range Wine Chef’s Table experience at The Kahala Hotel & Resort’s Hoku’s restaurant July 25 at 6 p.m. Reservations for the evening’s multi-course gourmet extravaganza, complete with wine pairings, are $110 per person (not including tax and gratuity) and may be made by calling (808) 739-8760 or e-mailing restaurants@kahalaresort.com.
The special Craggy Range Wine Chef’s Table will be limited to 20 persons and will begin with a welcome reception at 6 p.m., followed by dinner inHoku’s at 6:30 p.m. In attendance will be the Craggy Range Master Vintner Steve Smith. One of the founding directors of Craggy Range, Smith has had a distinguished academic, research, and commercial career in the wine business. He is the only specialist viticulturist in the world to hold a Master of Wine, achieved for the first time.
The six-course Craggy Range gourmet menu with wine pairings will also be offered to Hoku’s patrons on that evening and throughout the remainder of July.
Among the wines that will be poured during the evening include Craggy Range Riesling 2010 (Te Muna Road Vineyard, Martinborough), Craggy Range Chardonnay 2010 (Kidnappers Vineyard, Hawkes Bay), Craggy Range Te Kahu 2010 (Gimblett Gravels Vineyard, Hawkes Bay), Craggy Range Pinot Noir 2010 (Te Muna Road Vineyard, Martinborough), Craggy Range Sophia 2005 (Gimblett Gravels Vineyard, Hawkes Bay), and Craggy Range Le Sol 2008 (Gimblett Gravels Vineyard, Hawkes Bay).
“We are very excited to introduce these extraordinary New Zealand wines to Hawaii diners,” Says Hoku’s maître d‘hôtel Dante Camera. “We’ve been featuring selected Craggy Range wines since early January with great enthusiasm and the patrons have loved them. Chef Hirabayashi has paired these robust wines with cuisine to match their power and intensity. The evening will hold a variety of surprises for your palate and create a unique opportunity to learn more about New Zealand wines and the craft of winemaking from Craggy Range’s own master winemaker.”
Craggy Range Winery (www.craggyrange.com) was the first in the Southern Hemisphere to adopt making single vineyard wines from multiple regions of the country—revolutionary thinking in the late 1990s when Terry Peabody first began his wine making legacy. Matching grape to place, the company purchased lands with perfect growing conditions for their favorite wines (Bordeaux reds including Syrah, and Chardonnay) in Gimblett Gravels in Hawkes’s Bay on New Zealand’s east coast, and the spectacularly beautiful Tuki Tuki valley famous for its Chardonnays. They built the most technically advanced winery in the country and quickly became known for uncompromising standards and meticulous craftsmanship. Then the awards followed.
Vintner and owner Terry Peabody is one of Australia’s most successful entrepreneurs with a successful history of building waste management and transportation companies and business interests extending from the USA and Canada to Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. He founded Transpacific Industries, Ltd. and has been a prime instigator on environmental protection in Australia. He is a majority shareholder in the landmark Brisbane restaurant The Fountain Room and opened the award-winning Terrôir restaurant at Craggy Range. He and his wife Mary, who has extensive background in the hospitality business in Canada and Australia, divide their time between Queensland, Australia, Havelock North, New Zealand, and Whistler, Canada.
The winery was the dream of Mary and the couple’s daughter, Mary-Jeanne. They wanted this effort to be a heritage business and an enduring family legacy. They chose New Zealand because they were interested in clean air, green fields, and a culture of care for the land. New Zealand is famous for the purity of its environment. They planted vineyards in the sunny, bright maritime environment with no vines more than 70 kilometers from the sea. Aotearoa, the Maori name for New Zealand, means land of the long white cloud. It lies at latitude 35-47, surrounded by sub-tropical sea to the north and sub-Antarctic sea to the south. It provides a suitable environment that’s considered nirvana for a plant: geographic isolation, windy environment, unpolluted skies free of dust and smog, purity of light, and a temperate climate without hot, baking extremes.
Along the east coast of New Zealand lies some of the world’s most naturally gifted wine growing areas. Within a twenty mile drive, you can find micro climates that are similar to Bordeaux, as cool as Champagne or Alsace, and as warm as Burgundy. It’s a natural phenomenon unmatched anywhere else in the world. Almost every vine is touched by the tempering influence of the sea. All this contributes to the diversity, complexity, and amazing aromatics and vitality for which New Zealand fine wines are becoming recognized. From nature’s bounty Craggy Wines is producing high quality Pinot Noir, Syrah, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and custom blends.
The Craggy Range Winery Chef’s Table at Hoku’s will feature a selection of wines paired to compliment Chef Wayne Hirabayashi’s culinary dishes. Borrowing a few recipes from Craggy Range Winery’s Terrôir restaurant, Chef Hirabayashi will be putting his spin on their Wagyu rump cap served with semi-dried tomato, Jerusalem artichoke, and red wine jus, and the lamb rack with anchoide and tomato.
Reservations at the Chef’s Table on July 25 are limited for this special culinary evening. Call (808) 739-8760 to reserve your seat at the Craggy Range Winery Chef’s Table, or e-mail restaurants@kahalaresort.com. Individual diners may also make reservations through Open Table, as well as directly through the hotel’s reservations system.