Four Seasons Resort Maui Launches New Unforgettable Experience: Fire & Wine

Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea announces “Fire & Wine,” a culinary adventure designed to give guests a rare glimpse into Hawaii’s wild side, with the sophisticated touch for which the legendary property is famous.  Exclusively for Four Seasons Maui guests, Fire & Wine offers a window into the Hawaiian lifestyle of fishing, hunting and gathering Maui’s unique seafood, game and produce, which is cooked over flame and paired with extraordinary fine wines.

Getting there is all part of the fun.  Guests will depart on their journey via Blue Hawaiian Helicopters, just a few minutes from the Resort.  The aerial tour highlights hidden waterfalls, sea cliffs, and a peek into the island’s majestic Haleakala Crater before landing at Haiku House, a historic estate nestled at the edge of the jungle on the island’s rugged North Shore.

Once on the estate’s manicured grounds, there is plenty to see and do.  Zip around the property on electric bikes or simply stroll to the garden, citrus grove, or take in the more than 50 varieties of exotic trees. After exploring the grounds, guests meet Yeshua Goodman, owner and head chef at Kiawe Outdoor and the island’s most accomplished advanced sommelier, at the fire, where their personalised menu is already cooking over flames. Goodman sources the night’s ingredients from the island - whether it is diving for octopus, deep-sea fishing, hunting axis deer, or gathering unique ingredients from one of the island’s many farms and even Haiku House itself.

“What I love about sharing open-fire cooking with guests is that it brings us back to our source,” says Goodman.  “Cooking over a fire is primal; there is a sense of returning to your roots, especially here in Hawaii.  I love creating experiences for guests that evoke a sense of belonging, of being home.”

After an interactive blind wine tasting led by Goodman that will decide wine pairings for the night, guests take an insider’s guided tour of Haiku House.  The historic estate has a storied past but is best known on the island for its connection to the bygone days of the sugar industry, which was the island’s economic engine for nearly a century. The house tour is led by a representative of the Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum, and a portion of the experience’s profits benefit this non-profit organisation that strives to preserve and present the history and heritage of the sugar industry.

The main event features a multi-course meal, which has been cooked over kiawe (mesquite) wood embers for hours and expertly paired with the fine wines from the day’s blind tasting. Under a canopy of monkeypod trees, Goodman serves the dinner tableside. Then, the night ends sweetly, with a nod to the estate’s history: a demo and delectable dessert by Four Seasons Resort Maui Executive Pastry Chef Riccardo Menicucci enjoyed around the fire with new friends made throughout the day.

Fire & Wine is the newest of the Resort's Unforgettable Experiences, a highly customisable series of once-in-a-lifetime experiences that connect guests to the most interesting places and characters on Maui in exclusive ways that only Four Seasons can.  

“I am so excited to offer Fire & Wine to our guests because this experience is truly near and dear to my heart,” says Four Seasons Maui Director of Guest Experience Shermaine Rodrigues, who is charged with the Resort’s top-tiered suite guests. “I grew up hearing stories of the sugar plantation life, as both my father and grandfather worked in the industry. This newest Unforgettable Experience gives guests a unique glimpse into a part of Hawaii’s history that is so important but often not experienced. Haiku House itself is a treasure, but add Yeshua’s open fire cooking and the world’s best wines, and the experience is nothing short of spectacular.”

To learn more about Fire & Wine and other Unforgettable Experiences, contact the Resort at 808 874 8000.

About Yeshua Goodman

Raised on Maui, Yeshua Goodman spent his childhood exploring the unique wilderness of his island home. As a young adult, a volleyball scholarship took Yeshua to California, where he began working in the food and beverage industry.  It was there that he worked with future master sommelier Brian McClintic - and became a sommelier himself under his mentorship. Now back on Maui, Yeshua owns Kiawe Outdoor, creating open-fire culinary experiences.  Having obtained the advanced sommelier certification, Yeshua also works at Spago Maui at Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea. If he’s not hunting axis deer or fishing big eye tuna, he’s spending time with his beautiful family of five on a beach in Maui.

About Haiku House

Originally deeded to Richard Armstrong from King Kamehameha III, Haiku House has since been passed to numerous owners who have contributed collections of stories to the house and grounds on which it rests. Henry Baldwin of Alexander & Baldwin lived here, as did Athalie Clark, notable philanthropist and activist from California, who became so inspired by Crystal Cathedral’s Reverend Schuller that she gifted the estate to him. Reverend Schuller used the property as a retreat, eventually selling it to the family of Bill Simon, former US Secretary of Treasury. The house was a special gathering place for the Simon family for decades before it was purchased in 2015 by the Chan family, the estate’s current owners.