Fine Food & Wine at Four Seasons Hualalai Big Island

Winemaker in Residence Experience

I had the ultimate privilege of experiencing this type of interaction in a unique and intimate setting during Four Seasons Hualalai’s very exclusive Winemaker in Residence Dinner series. Scheduled about four times each year, this one-of-a-kind educational and carefully curated dinner experience takes place with local celebrities and offers guests a chance to interact one-on-one and get hands-on with the local culture.

This installment of the dinner series invited each guest to an “open fire” outdoor cooking concept presented by island local Chef Flora Kamimura in collaboration with Four Seasons Hualalai executive chef Richard Polhemus and complemented by Napa Valley’s Harlan Family Wines, the current in-villa wine cellar selection at the resort. The icing on the cake (or crepe in my case) of this once-in-a-lifetime experience was meeting Neil Kamimura, a knifemaker who purportedly has a 2-3 year waiting list for his hand-crafted knives (and by the way is also a good friend of Jason Momoa and yes, is Chef Flora’s husband!). The third-generation craftsman has competed in and won the nationally televised knife-making competition, “Forge and Fire,” and during this special dinner, demonstrated his awe-inspiring steel working skills using bare hands over live fire, staying true to the open-fire dinner concept. The culmination of sights, sounds, and smells at this spectacular outdoor feast started the moment we entered the property’s luscious herb garden and continued as plate after plate of indulgent local cuisine was presented.

Our outdoor dinner with ingredients sourced from the island and even farmed on property, was served over four courses, and delightfully paired with The Mascot’s array of red wines, all vintage cabernet sauvignon varieties ranging from 2011 to 2018. We started off with banana leaf charred Hawaiian snapper alongside Waimea potato and sunchoke salad. We moved on to a savory and smoky paella loaded with a variety of proteins: sausage, prawns, chicken. Third course brought us perhaps the largest roasted rib of local beef you could ever imagine, slow cooked over kiawe wood. It was the star of the show as vegetables, mushrooms, and a bright chimichurri sauce were all served family style as shareable sides. We finished off with a dulce de leche crepe with wood roasted bananas and local pineapple, complimented by our last sips of vintage 2018 and great conversation.

Harlan Family Wines

The partnership between Four Seasons Hualalai and Harlan Estate Winery adds just another little touch of detail and class to your stay. Harlan is a Napa Valley-based family-owned winery consisting of four brands including Harlan Estate, BOND, The Mascot, and Promontory, each grown in separate vineyards and separate micro-climates, producing a strong series of reds that excites every palate. Harlan was selected for the resort’s in-villa cellars and each of their brands have been featured in a Winemaker in Residence Dinner. The Mascot, in particular, is harvested from the younger vines of the Harlan family domain, and grown in a forest environment, bringing a different kind of grape to bear.

With the amazing food paired with excellent wine, there’s no doubt that this partnership between Harlan and Four Seasons Hualalai is one made in Heaven.