4 Seasons Maui presents luxurious Hearth & Wine tour and dinner: Journey Weekly

Tovin Lapan

In the Fire & wine Adventure offer for guests of the Four Seasons Resort Maui in Wailea, the venison – like many of the dishes served during the interactive meal – is more than just the perfect combination for a full-bodied Syrah; it is a vehicle for discussing Hawaii’s history, food systems, and sustainable future.

The Maui axis deer are an invasive species that were introduced to the islands in the late 1860s when King Kamehameha V accepted a gift from a small herd of visiting Hong Kong dignitaries. With no natural predators in the archipelago, deer reproduced and today, hunting and eating them helps control the population.

• Connected: Hawaii wants to lift all entry restrictions for vaccinated US visitors

“The deer has effects that many people are not aware of,” said Yeshua Goodman, chef and sommelier who created and directed the Fire and Wine experience. “They eat the vegetation around the island, which leads to more erosion when it rains. This flows into our oceans and has a negative effect on the coral reefs.”

The Fire and Wine experience kicked off in the second half of 2019, but just as it got underway, the Covid-19 pandemic struck, practically closing the state to tourism for more than six months. The interactive dinner event restarted in February and feeds the guests’ desire for cultural and historical understanding by incorporating it into a local meal.

The participants in the Fire & Wine experience can roll up their sleeves and help with the preparation of the meal. Photo credit: Courtesy of the Four Seasons Resort Maui, Wailea

“I think there are several factors at play here that make such experiences increasingly popular,” said Goodman. “On the one hand, the pandemic has resulted in people being back outside and connected to nature. I also think there is a generation change where millennials and younger tourism consumers are very interested in experiences know where to eat. ” comes from.”

Goodman was born on the island of Hawaii (often referred to as the Big Island) and grew up in Maui, where he hunted, fished and cooked over campfires. He left the islands to attend Hope International University in Fullerton, California, where he was on a beach volleyball scholarship.

While on the West Coast, Goodman discovered his love for wine and a knack for tasting, and identified the unique notes of a particular vintage. Eventually he became an advanced sommelier under the guidance of current master sommelier Brian McClintic. After returning to Maui in 2015, he began cooking large meals for friends under the stars.

“When I got back to Maui, I just got some friends together for fun, went to the mountains, cooked a meal over the fire, and opened a couple of good bottles of wine,” Goodman said. “My friends loved it and they basically told me, ‘This is magic and you should share this with the world.'”

• Cover story: Hawaii’s Tourism Reset

Goodman ran the concept and founded Kiawe Outdoor in 2017, which offers culinary outdoor experiences by an open fire for groups and events. He also worked as a sommelier at Spago Maui at the Four Seasons Resort Maui, and shortly after the launch of Kiawe Outdoor, the Four Seasons team was asked to develop an exclusive and improved version of the experience for the resort. And so Fire and Wine was born.

Fire and Wine participants first board a helicopter at Wailea Golf Club and are whisked over waterfalls, rainforest and Mount Haleakala to the north coast of Maui. The helicopter lands at Haiku House, a former sugar cane plantation that is now a 20-acre luxury retreat with orchards and gardens. An expert from the Alexander and Baldwin Sugar Museum takes the group on a private tour on electric bicycles that features stories passed down by the locally known and influential owners of the estate.

“It’s an iconic property with unique trees, foliage and exotic plants,” said Goodman. “The home was built in the 19th century and the property really helps tell the story of Hawaii from the plantation era, which was a melting pot of cultures when sugar cane workers from Pacific countries came to Hawaii. It is a breathtaking property. ”

Goodman plans a meal well in advance, based on notes of guest preferences and using as many ingredients from Maui as possible. He dives for fish, hunts deer or wild boar, and picks produce from his own garden and one on the premises of the haiku house.

For an upcoming meal booked in early July, Goodman planned to dive for octopus and harvest some strawberry guavas and lychees, both non-native fruits. For cooking he uses Kiawe wood, a relative of Mesquite, which was also introduced to Hawaii and is an invasive species. Goodman also uses Kiawe flour, which is made from the tree’s bean pods, to make corn bread and other baked goods.

“Using these ingredients makes it more of an educational experience where we start talking about the invasive species on the islands and how they affect the environment,” he said. “We’re talking about the differences in wildlife and farm animal hunting and their impact on the earth.”

After the tour, the party joins Goodman and his team while they cook the food over an open flame. Guests are taken to a wine tasting and their favorite bottles are then presented with the meal. Participants can sit back and let the professional chefs do the work or roll up their sleeves and help prepare the meal. Goodman loves to show his guests how he bakes sourdough bread over hot coals. Guests can help shape the loaf, scratch it, and bake it on the fire. On other occasions, guests can help wrap the fish in ti sheets filled with herbs and spices to cook over the fire.

“Fire and Wine adds a fine culinary aspect to the wild side of Maui,” said Goodman. “This is part of the next generation of tourism. Rather than just traveling from Hawaii, visitors want to be aware of its effects and want to give back and partake in the islands’ healing. There are only so many resources here, and that all means the way to the plate. “

At the end of the evening, Four Seasons Pastry Chef Riccardo Menicucci conducts a dessert demonstration before guests return to the resort by private car service.

Fire & Wine starts at $ 23,500 for up to six people. It is recommended that you book the package at least 30 days in advance and 100% 72 hour cancellation applies.