Maui Kapalua Wine and Food Festival

Maui Kapalua Wine and Food Festival is a food and wine festival held annually in Kapalua, Hawaii — a beachfront event drawing approximately 3,500 guests to the Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua Resort for a weekend of wine tastings, chef demonstrations, and winemaker dinners. The festival features over 40 vendors, including wineries and local restaurants, making it one of the more substantive food-and-wine gatherings in the Pacific region.

The festival pairs master sommeliers with notable chefs for a format that moves between intimate and large-scale programming. The Grand Tasting gala seats guests in an open-air pavilion with panoramic ocean views, where sommeliers lead structured wine flights. Wines from Napa Valley, Sonoma, and international vineyards are poured alongside Hawaii-sourced dishes — fresh poke, Kalua pork, and grilled Kona lobster among them. Participating restaurants have included Cane & Canoe and Morimoto Maui; wineries have included Robert Mondavi. Maui Kapalua Wine and Food Festival is a multi-day event featuring over 40 vendors and roughly 3,500 attendees, held at a beachfront resort on Maui's northwest coast.

Beyond the Grand Tasting, the schedule includes hands-on sessions such as sushi rolling classes and mixology workshops, as well as winemaker dinners where guests sit directly with vintners and chefs. Live Hawaiian music and hula performances by local artists run throughout the weekend. The open-air pavilion setting means ocean views are part of the experience at the main event, though attendees should plan for Hawaii's variable coastal weather. Ticket pricing and specific dates had not been confirmed at the time of publication — check the festival's official site before purchasing.

Kapalua sits on Maui's northwest shore, a coastline known for calm waters and consistent trade winds. The Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua Resort has served as the festival's host venue, providing the infrastructure for both large-format tastings and smaller, seated dinners. For visitors traveling specifically for the festival, booking accommodations in the Kapalua area early is advisable given limited resort-area inventory during peak Hawaii travel periods.