Longtime wine enthusiasts Bud Pikrone and his wife, Diane, remember throwing wine-tasting parties in the 1970s when most of their friends were drinking Mad Dog. Their interest started with German wines; wanting to learn about vintages from other regions, they began attending monthly tastings at a wine shop near their home in Chicago.

"The number of bottles in our wine cellar grew," Pikrone recalled, "and when we decided to move to Maui 15 years ago, we had a dilemma: What were we going to do with all of them? We had a number of parties to share our collection, but we still wound up shipping more than 12 cases to Maui. We continue to fuel our passion by going to local tastings and making annual trips to Napa."

Pikrone is general manager of the Wailea Resort Association, whose partners — six hotels, three golf courses and two shopping centers — are in the final stages of preparing for a new annual event in December. The Wailea Wine & Food Festival is expected to draw 2,000 people to the 1,500-acre, master-planned development on Maui’s South Shore.

"The association had been thinking about launching a new signature event for several years," Pikrone said. "We felt our incredible dining options would be the perfect fit for a fun, upscale event in a spectacular setting."

Participants include more than 20 wine experts representing wineries, resorts and beverage companies across the United States. Also in the spotlight will be chefs from 13 Wailea restaurants that rank among Maui’s best.

Four of the chefs — Bev Gannon, Alan Wong, Mark Ellman and Peter Merriman — helped found Hawaii Regional Cuisine in 1991. Incorporating fresh local ingredients and seasonings and preparations from the islands’ diverse ethnic groups, the movement quickly won the attention and following of gourmets worldwide.

The festival’s DaVine Experience on Dec. 8 will feature dishes such as lobster tempura, star anise and cinnamon duck leg, and coffee- and spice-rubbed smoked beef brisket paired with selections from about 70 wineries. The next afternoon, guests will nosh on ahi tacos, Guinness-infused Irish sausage, sliced honey-mango rib eye on taro rolls and more at Grillin’ and Chillin’, an oceanside barbecue.

Winemaker dinners on Dec. 7 and 9 will be intimate affairs, accommodating just 20 to 30 guests. At 90-minute "wine encounters" with top winemakers and sommeliers on Dec. 7, 8 and 9, attendees will be able to, among other sipping adventures, Escape to Italy in Eight Glasses.

"Luxury accommodations and fabulous weather, golf, beaches and watersports have established Wailea as a first-class vacation destination," Pikone said. "The Wailea Wine & Food Festival will showcase our sources for fine spirits, our chefs’ culinary artistry and the bounty of fresh products that Maui provides."

Through the four-day event, attendees can bid on paintings, photographs and other original works by Maui artists at a silent auction benefiting the Maui Culinary Academy at the University of Hawaii Maui College. "Hawaii’s great chefs of tomorrow are in the classroom today," Pikrone said. "We know our guests will be pleased to get deals on fabulous items while supporting our next generation of culinary masters."

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Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.