Kapalua Wine & Food Festival

Kapalua Wine & Food Festival is Maui’s most iconic epicurean weekend, bringing together top vintners, celebrity chefs, and local island restaurants for tastings, seminars, winemaker dinners, and a headline Grand Tasting Gala at Kapalua Resort. If you want a Hawaii island getaway that feels equal parts luxury and local, this is the event where Maui’s “good life” culture is on full display.

Kapalua Wine & Food Festival: The Maui Experience in One Weekend

The Kapalua Wine & Food Festival is described by the organizers as one of the oldest and most beloved food and wine festivals in the U.S., bringing together world-class vintners, celebrity chefs, and Maui and Hawaiʻi’s favorite restaurants and local vendors. The same official FAQ notes the festival was initiated in the 1980s by the Kapalua Wine Society and has evolved over time, with the event itself growing into a prestigious educational experience centered on food and wine.

What makes this festival different from a typical “wine tasting” is how strongly it embraces place. It is hosted in the world-renowned Kapalua Resort area on Maui’s northwest coast, creating a setting where ocean views, sunset dinners, and resort-level hospitality naturally elevate the entire experience.

When to Plan Your Visit: Typical Dates and Best Month

Kapalua Wine & Food Festival is generally positioned as a summer event on Maui. A Maui Now event announcement for the festival describes it as returning in July (with multi-day programming across a long weekend), which aligns with how many travelers plan it as a mid-summer island trip.

Because dates can shift year to year, the safest planning approach is to treat late June to July as the typical timing window and then confirm official dates once they’re posted. If your goal is to secure resort accommodations close to the festival venues, it helps to plan early since the host resort and nearby properties can fill up around festival weekend.

Where the Magic Happens: Kapalua Resort and The Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua

The festival is centered at Kapalua Resort, with major events hosted by The Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua. Kapalua’s location on Maui’s northwest coast makes it ideal for travelers who want an island itinerary that balances wine events with beach time, coastal walks, and scenic drives.

The official Kapalua event listing specifically highlights the Grand Tasting Gala being hosted by The Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua. It also references the Aloha Garden Pavilion as the setting for the gala, reinforcing that the festival leans into Maui’s indoor-outdoor island lifestyle rather than a convention-center vibe.

Festival Highlights: What You Can Do and Taste

The Kapalua Wine & Food Festival is built as a menu of experiences, so you can tailor the weekend to your travel style. The official festival FAQ describes the weekend as offering interactive wine tasting seminars, intimate winemaker dinners, and opportunities to sample unique and premium wines from around the globe.

The Grand Tasting Gala (Signature Event)

The Grand Tasting Gala is consistently framed as the weekend’s top event. The Kapalua event page calls it the “highlight of the weekend,” noting it features Kapalua Resort’s family of restaurants and chefs from across Maui, and places special focus on the Lahaina culinary community.

The same listing also mentions premium elements such as Petrossian caviar, specialty purveyors, premium and hard-to-find wines, craft cocktails, and island-style entertainment. For visitors, this is the “one ticket” that most closely captures the festival’s full flavor: Maui chefs, global wine, and a social island atmosphere in one night.

Celebrity Chef Cooking Demonstrations

Beyond sipping, the festival leans into learning and storytelling through food. The Kapalua event page highlights “Celebrity Chef Cooking Luncheons,” describing four-course experiences paired with highly prized wines and featuring celebrity chefs like Rick Moonen and Maneet Chauhan.

This format is ideal for travelers who want more than a crowded tasting room. A seated, guided experience helps you understand ingredients, technique, and pairing logic, while still keeping the tone fun, interactive, and island-relaxed.

Interactive Wine Seminars and Winemaker Dinners

Wine education is a core part of the festival identity. The official FAQ emphasizes interactive tasting seminars and intimate winemaker dinners as key experiences across the weekend.

A Maui Now festival announcement also describes a series of wine tasting seminars with renowned vintners and intimate curated dinners pairing gourmet cuisine with rare vintages. This is what makes the event feel “festival-like” rather than just a single gala: you can build a multi-day Maui itinerary around tastings, learning sessions, and dinner events.

Island Culture and Community Impact

Kapalua Wine & Food Festival is not positioned only as luxury entertainment. The official festival FAQ explains that, especially after wildfires that impacted the local community, the event expanded donations to support several grassroots initiatives and organizations connected to Lahaina restoration and hospitality education.

For travelers, this adds depth to the experience. You are not only consuming “island luxury,” but also participating in an event that explicitly recognizes Maui community resilience and channels support toward local recovery and workforce development in hospitality.

Practical Travel Tips for Visitors

A great Kapalua Wine & Food Festival trip is equal parts scheduling and island ease. Since the event blends multiple tastings, demos, and evening programming, the biggest mistake is packing your days too tightly and forgetting you’re on Maui.

Getting to Kapalua

The festival FAQ identifies Kahului Airport (OGG) as where most flights to Maui arrive, and it also mentions Kapalua Airport (JHM) as the closest airport for limited inter-island flights. This helps with planning ground transportation because Kapalua is a drive from Kahului, and having a plan for rides is important if your itinerary includes wine tastings.

Transportation and Safety

The festival FAQ notes that Uber, Lyft, and taxis are available nearby and that resort bell staff can help arrange rides. This is especially useful for visitors because tastings and dinners often involve alcohol, and safe transportation is part of enjoying the weekend responsibly.

Dress Code and Vibe

Kapalua is relaxed, but it still has a polished resort standard. The official FAQ suggests resort casual attire for seminars and cooking demonstrations and encourages elevated resort wear for the Grand Tasting Gala.

Age Restrictions

All festival events are 21 and older, with no exceptions including infants, according to the official festival FAQ. If you’re traveling as a family to Maui, this is important since you may need to plan childcare or choose which adults attend.

Tickets and Pricing (What’s Available Publicly)

Pricing can vary by event type and whether you purchase passes or individual tickets. Maui Now notes that inclusive festival passes or a la carte tickets are available, and it describes festival passes as including interactive wine tasting seminars, two celebrity chef cooking demos, and Grand Tasting Gala premier access, along with extras like a VIP winemaker reception and preferred seminar seating.

Specific ticket prices are not always published in one universal “official price list” on every public page, but third-party and media coverage indicates typical per-event pricing ranges. For example, Travel Weekly reported festival passes priced at $1,250 per person, including seminars, cooking demos, and the Grand Tasting Gala, along with a VIP reception.

Because pricing changes by package type, early-bird windows, and event add-ons, the best visitor strategy is to decide your “must-do” experiences first (Grand Tasting vs seminars vs demos), then compare pass bundles versus a la carte tickets on the official festival site.

Verified Information at a Glance

• Event name: Kapalua Wine & Food Festival
• Event category: Food and wine festival (epicurean event featuring tastings, seminars, and chef programming)
• Typically held: Summer (commonly promoted around July as a long weekend festival)
• Main location: Kapalua Resort, Maui, Hawaiʻi
• Key venue host: The Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua
• Signature event: Grand Tasting Gala (hosted at The Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua; described as the highlight of the weekend)
• Typical programming: Interactive wine tasting seminars, intimate winemaker dinners, celebrity chef cooking demonstrations/luncheons
• Age requirement: 21+ only for all events (no exceptions, including infants)
• Pricing (publicly reported examples): Festival passes have been reported at $1,250 per person in travel media, and tickets may also be available a la carte depending on event type.

If Maui is calling and you love the idea of pairing world-class wine with island ingredients and oceanfront evenings, make Kapalua your base, choose your must-do tastings and chef events, and treat yourself to a weekend of sipping, savoring, and celebrating in the spirit of aloha at the Kapalua Wine & Food Festival.