Featuring Fine Dining Takes on a Classic Hawaiian Dish & Hand Picked Selections of Sauvignon Blanc
Wailea, Makena, 2012-10-1 — /travelprnews.com/ — The Makena Beach & Golf Resort has partnered with one the world’s youngest Master Sommeliers to explore the world class pairing of Poke and Wine, simply named “Poke and Sauvignon Blanc” the tasting is held on October 11, 2012 from 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM at the resort’s Molokini Bar & Grill.
The event brings together the culinary Poke creations of Executive Chef Marc McDowell, featuring a trio of diverse main ingredients like fresh caught ahi, shrimp and even beef each prepared to deliver unique flavor profiles to go with a trio of wines hand selected by Hawaii resident Master Sommelier Patrick Okubo. Sip on Craggy Range, Michelle Redd, and Matanzas Creek while one of the world’s youngest Sommeliers provides an education on the green-skinned grape variety, which originates from the Bordeaux region of France and that produces a flavorful wild white wine. This exclusive tasting is offered at only $35 per person, not including tax or gratuity.
Even among the ranks of such Hawaiian island staples like Spam Musubi, Shave Ice and Malasadas, Poke, is most likely Hawaii’s most renaissance dish. Poke, a Hawaiin verb meaning to cut or in pieces, is a simple dish featuring a seafood type protein cut into pieces and mixed with various condiments like Hawaiian sea salt, seaweed or onions. Recipes for this dish are vast, where family recipes are never written but shown from generation to generation, with each passing age group adding, changing and/or infusing it with the flavors and cultures of that time. The versatility and dynamic nature of the dish and its many possibilities of preparation is indicative of and most appropriately demonstrates the island culture from which it originates. What was once is traditionally reserved for barefoot casual family get-togethers at the beach and usually enjoyed with your favorite beer has begun to show up on various menus of Hawaii’s elite restaurants and paired with the best of both old world and new world wines.
The Poke and Sauvignon Blanc tasting event is part of the resort’s Food & Wine
Education Series at Makena featuring a culinary event every month. This new culinary partnership between Master Sommelier Patrick Okubo and Executive Chef of the Makena Beach & Golf Resort Marc McDowell is designed to pair the best of the Chef’s fresh and cultured dishes with the best of old world and new world wines and is the brain child of the resort’s Director of Food & Beverage Leo Mallari. “Our hope with this new Food & Wine Education series is to create an event that not only educate but gather people together to enjoy and appreciate good food and wine in a beautiful setting that is Makena.” says Mallari. The Food & Wine Education Series starts on Oct. 11, 2012 with the Poke & Sauvignon Blanc tasting, subsequent dates include November 8, 2012 and December 20, 2012.
For reservations or more information please call 808-875-5888 or visit
www.makenaresortmaui.com
About Makena Beach & Golf Resort’s Executive Chef Marc McDowell
Since his appointment as Makena Beach & Golf Resort’s Executive Chef in October 2010, Chef Marc McDowell has revolutionized the resort’s culinary program, with creative menu development, providing expert direction and training to the resort’s culinary team, and overseeing food production in the resort’s four restaurants and catering department. Trained at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, New York, Chef McDowell has a background in French cooking, specializing in a fusion of exotic herbs and spices with fresh Hawaiian ingredients to create new flavor profiles for the palette. His professional experience includes senior culinary positions at the Grand Wailea Resort, Maui and most recently as the Executive Sous Chef at the Ritz Carlton in Kapalua, Maui.
About Master Sommelier, Patrick Okubo
Patrick “Pat” Okubo is a Master Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers, a Certified Wine Educator (CWE), and Certified Specialist of Spirits (CSS). A graduate of University High and the University of Hawaii, he is a member of the National Guard, runs The Wine GI, a personal wine consultation and education business, and is host of A Perfect Sip – an online radio show, www.aperfectsip.com. Pat is the Fine Wine Specialist and Wine Educator for Young’s Market Hawaii. Previously, he opened Formaggio Grill as Managing Partner and Wine Director / Restaurant manager at Four Seasons Lana’i. Pat is the third Master Sommelier in Hawaii and is the second youngest Master Sommelier in the nation.
About the Makena Beach & Golf Resort:
Located on 1,800 acres of Maui’s sunny southern shore, the Resort’s 310 guestrooms and suites, offers private lanais with sweeping Pacific Ocean and Mount Haleakala views. The resort features championship golf on the acclaimed Makena Golf Course, an 18-hole course that runs parallel to the Pacific Coastline, with stunning views from nearly every hole, and an adjacent vast white sand beach hosting a plethora of water activities. The resort also boasts unforgettable oceanfront and vista wedding locations, excellent meeting facilities and banquet services. Combined with an exceptional aloha spirited staff, this secluded hideaway provides the best of a Maui vacation.
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Media Contacts:
Makena Beach & Golf Resort
Jovelyn Bonilla
PR Coordinator
Ph: (808) 875-5818
Fax: (808) 879-8763
jbonilla@makenaresortmaui.com