A collaboration of Kapalua Resort partners creating a new spin on the longest running food and wine event in the USA. The annual Kapalua Wine and Food Festival is a celebration of epicurean excellence showcasing the finest in food and wine and embracing all things Hawaiian – notably – the fabulous culinary bounty on Maui and here at the world-renowned Kapalua Resort.
ABOUT JABS:
Jessie “JABS” Birschbach, Managing Editor at The Somm Journal magazine, is a Certified Sommelier with a background in fine dining (Spago, Beverly Hills; Mastro’s Steakhouse, Beverly Hills) creative marketing (Signature Creative, Protagonist) and comedy (iO West, UCB LA). JABS is an active homebrewer, belonging to the Pacific Gravity Homebrew Club, and specializes in pairing cannabis strains with wine and beer. Although she is from the island of Kauai, spending the first six years of her life on the islands, JABS grew up in San Diego where she received her Bachelor of Science in Marketing from San Diego State University. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her wife and son.
SAM SMITH - ASSISTANT WINEMAKER, SMITH-MADRONE WINERY
ESTATE: All wines made entirely from the winery’s estate vineyards surrounding the winery on top of Spring Mountain in the Napa Valley. Stuart Smith chose specific slopes with different exposures for specific varietals when planting the vineyards: eastern exposure for Riesling, southern and western exposures across flat stretches for the Cabernet Sauvignon and the coolest north-facing slopes for the Chardonnay. There are numerous historical sights on the ranch, as well as the huge array of natural beauty and wildlife.
SOIL:
The soils are mostly deep-red Aiken Stoney Clay loam, part of the Aiken, Kidd, Forward complex of soils which are volcanic-based, well-drained and deep for mountain soils. The underlying geology is the Franciscan Assemblage, unique to California coastal ranges, which includes altered mafic volcanic rocks, deep-sea radiolarian cherts, sandstones, limestones, serpentines, shales and high-pressure metamorphic rocks, all of them faulted and mixed in a seemingly chaotic manner as a result of tectonic plate activity. The soils are rocky, with some rocks as large as small cars.
THE ESTATE:
200 acre ranch, partly planted as vineyard over a century ago; California black bears and other wildlife once thrived here; enormous 120-year-old Picholine olive trees frame a path and view overlooking Napa Valley and Bothe Napa Valley State Park