At Maui winery, memories are made

A man has shipped a single bottle of MauiWine’s Hula o Maui, a pineapple sparkling wine, to his Orlando, Fla., home for his wedding anniversary every year for the past 15 years because he and his sweetheart toasted with it after he proposed to her.

A Los Angeles resident gave her daughter a Maui vacation and a visit to MauiWine for her 21st birthday because that was what her mom did for her when she turned 21.

Joe Hegele, MauiWine’s director of sales and marketing, loves sharing such stories because they show wine’s connection with celebration.

“People worldwide observe special occasions with wine,” he said. “It’s a festive beverage, and our wines represent Maui, our environmentally sound cultivation practices and our philosophy of accentuating the unique characteristics of each variety that we grow by harvesting, fermenting and aging them in small lots.”

Covering 27 acres on the southern slopes of Hale-akala volcano, MauiWine is part of Ulupalakua Ranch, which was known as Rose Ranch in the mid- to late 1800s. Then-owner James Makee, a retired whaling captain, hosted many extravagant parties there that featured, for example, parades, horse races and peacock as the main course for dinner.

King Kalakaua was a frequent visitor to the ranch — so often, in fact, that Makee built a cottage specifically for his royal friend’s use. Now housing MauiWine’s tasting room, the cottage stands amid magnificent trees, including ficus, kauri, camphor and Cook pines.

At the pa hula, or hula circle, beside the cottage, dancers performed for Kalakaua in a ring of 10 cypress trees that wereplanted in his honor in the 1870s. The 145-foot trees stood for almost 150 years; then, in 2012, strong winds toppled two of them.

Close examination revealed the rest were also unsteady, so in the interest of safety, MauiWine cut them and hired local artist Tim Garcia to carve the 10- to 15-foot trunks that remained into art that honored the significance of the place. The sculptures include three hula dancers and a male form representing Kalakaua, whose arm is raised in a welcoming gesture.

MAUIWINE was born in 1974 as Tedeschi Vineyards — a partnership between C. Pardee Erdman, owner of Ulupalakua Ranch, and Emil Tedeschi, a second-generation vintner from Napa Valley. Former Rose Ranch buildings dating back to the 1860s were repurposed for the bold new venture: The creamery became the production facility; the dairy was transformed into a lab and bottling room; and the business office served as the original tasting room (this building has been dubbed the Old Jail because rowdy party guests were shackled in its basement until they sobered up).

Knowing it would take a decade for the young vineyard to mature and yield grapes for marketable wine, workers initially made a wine from sweet Maui Gold pineapples, which were being grown year-round in Haliimaile, 20 miles away. Debuted in 1977, Maui Blanc was intended to be an interim experimental product, but response was so positive, production of it continued. Although it has evolved since Tedeschi left in the late 1980s, it has remained the winery’s perennial top seller.

Syrah, Viognier, Malbec, Grenache, Chenin Blanc and Gewurztraminer now blanket 16 acres of MauiWine’s 23-acre vineyard, which boasts panoramic views of the ocean, Kahoolawe, Molokini, Lanai and the upper slopes of Haleakala. Those varieties were selected because they thrive in the cool environment 1,600 to 1,900 feet above sea level and ripen gradually (the longer grapes stay on the vine, the better their flavor and aroma and balance of sugar and acid).

“Other wineries are at the same and even higher elevations, but that’s not the norm, so for more than 40 years, our vineyard has been trial and error,” Hegele said. “There’s no precedent — and therefore no rules — for what we’re doing. We’re trying varietals and implementing techniques from around the world with those that are specific to us and seeing what works. Our winemaker, Brett Miller, is part of a new wave of young winemakers who are really creative, passionate and not afraid to push boundaries.”

Currently, MauiWine sells 10 wines in three collections: Pineapple, Rose Ranch and Ulupalakua Vineyards. The three Pineapple wines are made from fresh Maui Gold pineapples that are processed on-site. Miller goes to the plantation every three weeks to check and taste the fruit before it’s harvested.

The four Rose Ranch wines mix raspberries and grapes that might be from mainland sources (e.g., Lokelani is a blend of Pinot and Chardonnay).

Ulupalakua Vineyards is the label for the three estate wines released in the past three years. “Estate” means they’re made entirely from MauiWine grapes, and Miller is looking forward to the adventure of developing new offerings for this collection.

“We’re also exploring other ways to invite the community to learn more about wine and winemaking on Maui and to enjoy our beautiful, historic setting,” Hegele said. “For example, we’d like to open the vineyard for weddings and other private functions. We’re also thinking about creating a lounge in the Old Jail’s basement that will offer whiskeys, cigars and classic wines. It’s exciting to be in a business that produces wonderful products and helps people make and preserve wonderful memories.”

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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.